Hey MarcL.
I read your outpouring of optimism over at TWN.
marky |
02.26.06 - 9:15 pm | #
Great post Jane.
Got an early flight in a few hours. Nite all.
scarecrow |
02.26.06 - 9:23 pm | #
Lots of people are worried about Bushco using nukes on Iran.
A few weeks ago I was a lone, shrill voice with this warning. Now I'm almost mainstream.
Will anyone in the press have the guts to ask Bush, or McLellan, if a nuclear attack on Iran has been ruled out. "All options on the table" would be a worrisome response; "That's absurd", if McLellan said it, means that a nuclear attack is planned and the date set.
marky |
02.26.06 - 9:27 pm | #
EPU'ed ; )
It won't be long now until we find out if the "Ciro" campaign is/was successful. The primary is March 7th, and there isn't a Republican running in that district. Whoever wins the primary, wins the seat (fingers crossed).
Cozumel |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 9:30 pm | #
Keep up the good work about Crazy Comstock. The transcription project she headed remionds me of Watergate: the kookie Nixon White House proposal to have "Judge Stennis" listen to tapes for accuracy of the transcripts. John Stennis was an ancient tortise who was going deaf!
I wonder what we could find out about Comstock's early life. How did she make the leap to DOJ? Does she have a husband and children ? Did she she leave them (like Phyllis Schafley) to work against women's rights?
SuzzieQ |
02.26.06 - 9:32 pm | #
There have been several interested TradMed outlets with feature stories about the Libby website -- Countdown, that I recall -- and I hope Jane's reminder of who Comstock's run with is seen by and highlighted by others as well.
If Scooter's innocent and just needs $5M raised, aren't there less unsavory people to ask for help than Comstock?
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TeddySanFran |
02.26.06 - 9:35 pm | #
Great post Jane. I'll admit to some memory problems, does any body know the details of Hilary's exculpatory conversation that was deleted from the transcript?
RBG |
02.26.06 - 9:39 pm | #
This sounds like the Lisa Myers edit and cut that atrios often posts about. Anyone familiar with that?
marky |
02.26.06 - 9:40 pm | #
Regarding the longer post above about Oracle timetable and the Quail hunting party at the Armstrong Ranch....Are we absolutely sure this "Oracle" timetable originated some time ago, and hasn't been created in light of the Dubai ports story? Remember in 1981 when Reagan was shot and a TV "psychic" tried to prove she predicted it by showing a videotape of her prediction? It was soon revealed that the tape was made after Reagan's shooting. Also, I am very wary of anything found on Wikipedia. There has been many reports of hacking into that database and fooling around with the facts. We do not use Wikipedia in my researching projects. It cannot be trusted for accuracy. Lexus-nexus is the gold standard (unless you can get to a libary where they have microform newspapers and magazines).
SuzzieQ |
02.26.06 - 9:44 pm | #
The description of Bossie as scattershot made me think of the descriptions of Bolton's operating methods.
Do we know where Bossie is now and what he is doing? Working for Scooter, perhaps?
Constant Reader |
02.26.06 - 9:44 pm | #
marky,
I'm not familiar with the term but did we just experience it?
RBG |
02.26.06 - 9:45 pm | #
Indeed, rbg.. we did.
Lisa myers notoriously edited a Webb Hubell-Hillary conversation to make her look bad. I think there must be a tie-in with Comstock.
marky |
02.26.06 - 9:47 pm | #
ot sorry, I checked memeorandum and it doesn't appear that any blogs have picked this up yet. Should be big. Time busts Santorum for slipping a loophole into the Katrina tax relief Act that is letting pseudo synthetic fuel companies make billions of our tax dollars on a "dubious"coal to oil scam.
Time: A Magic Way to Make Billions
EXCLUSIVE HOW LOBBYISTS ARE PULLING OFF A SYNFUEL SCHEME WITH HELP FROM KEY LAWMAKERS--AND YOU'LL PAY
The wording is so bland and buried so deep within a 324-page budget document that almost no one would notice that a multibillion-dollar scam is going on. Not the members of Congress voting for it and certainly not the taxpayers who will get fleeced by it. And that is exactly the idea. (...)
.. a select group of investors and companies will walk away with billions of dollars in tax subsidies, not from oil but from the marketing of a dubious concoction of synthetic fuel produced from coal and dependent on government tax credits tied to the price of oil. (...)
The stealth amendment would roll back the calendar. (Sort of like your missing the deadline for your mortgage payment, then backdating your check to avoid a late charge. But much more lucrative. (...)
Every time I think BushCo is just Nixon redux, what with the domestic wiretapping and all, I remember how Nixon used the IRS against his political enemies. And I think, well, at least the goopers learned their lesson about THAT in the 1970s and wouldn't try it again....
hmmmm I did not take Oracle's timeline as a prognostication but rather as an interesting note of how tied together the two timelines might be. And while wikipedia has had some problems, it's a pretty wonderful experiment and used as here as a reference for a map, etc I don't see how it can be seen as unreliable in this case.
I do think the Cheney shooting attempt to hide the SwissMiss is interesting and worth remembering as we learn more - and I am quite certain the port deal is about something sgnificant since W would not go to the wall in this way for no reason ... there has to be either a crony angle or a carlyle/halliburton link or such. There was a mention on one of the news shows (no memory of which but either cnn or msnbc 2 days ago?) of a major donation by the UAE to Katrina aid? struck me as odd all the way around but I toss it in just for completeness.
siun |
02.26.06 - 10:09 pm | #
What we are seeing are two fundamental trends playing out - one, the relative weakening of America economically compared to resource producers like Russia and more competitive goods & services producers like China & India and second, a rise in global tensions due to competition for limited natural resources.
In a way what is unfolding is the changing of the guard from a single superpower order to a another yet to be determined world order.
America has the most powerful military but financially it is strapped and with liabilities several times current reported GDP. Over the last 50 years through both Republican and Democratic administrations there has been a steady obfuscation of economic data to increase reported GDP and understate CPI. If we use the same method for calculating CPI as used during the Eisenhower administration tracking the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services, inflation will be 5-6% higher than what is reported. If we use the same method as then for calculating real GDP then we will be in a recession now with the economy currently contracting 2.5%. Real unemployment would be 12%. Although our government and politicians tell us everything is dandy, every one of us that has a job knows what raises have been like over the past 5 years and what the cost of food, gas, health care premiums and tuition are actually. The average Joe knows that consumer price inflation is not the 2% that is reported. If the Eisenhower era method of calculating CPI was used today social security checks would be 70% higher. If our governments finances where accounted for using GAAP accounting that all companies are required to use then the fiscal 2004 deficit would have been $616 billion rather than the reported $412 billion. And if you included social security and medicare obligations it would have been $3.4 trillion. To put this context, even if taxes were raised to 100% of everyone's wages it would still not cover the deficit. The deficit and total obligations of the federal government are increasing by roughly the amount of reported GDP (which is inflated) every 3 years. As of the end of fiscal 2005 the total obligations of the federal government is $51 trillion which is over 4 times current reported GDP. We have been able to bring forward our standard of living through excess consumption primarily because our currency, the dollar, is the reserve currency of the world.
So as the world order is surely changing and countries like Russia and China are strenthening relative to the US, we find ourselves requiring financial support from these countries to support our military adventures and our current standard of living.
Somethings going to give. And the way our current politics of spin operate, it seems certain that one outcome is a reduced standard of living for the vast majority of American wage earners and retirees. Another possibility is an alliance of Russia and China that will challenge us militarily.
ab initio |
02.26.06 - 10:10 pm | #
Wikipedia's database can't be "hacked" since it's a publicly-modifiable resource. The purpose is to let anyone change the content. What keeps Wikipedia content from getting completely out of whack is a dedicated user base that corrects any defacements. Beyond that, every edit is publicly available. You can view every single change to every single page, thus knowing what was changed and when.
As for the accuracy, a recent exercise shows Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica. Wikipedia averaged 4 errors per article, whereas Britannica averaged 3 errors per article. But the Wikipedia articles were 2.6 longer than Britannica's. Wikipedia is a great first source for information, but it's always wise to confirm content with other sources. Trust but verify, as Saint Ronald Reagan said.
Congressional sources have been trying to scrub pages of GOP members recently, but they're being reverted to accurate information and locked to stop the defacements. This is just another example of taxpayer-funded misinformation coming from the GOP. There has never been a more morally bereft political party in this nation's history.
puppethead |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:13 pm | #
Aww, puppethead beat me to it.
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:15 pm | #
I'm confused as to what "longer post above about Oracle timetable and the Quail hunting party at the Armstrong Ranch" is being referred to.
Am I just missing it, or was it on an earlier thread?
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:17 pm | #
Rat fucking?
You're killin' me Jane, killin' me.
This leads to the question: Is Ms. Constock the fucker or the fuckee?
No, you don't want to go there.
Keep digging, Jane. This is material will find it's way to the MSM sooner or later. I don't think I would call them rodent copulators, but damn, in the way that they just republish press releases, don't you wonder where they learned the art of fellatio well?
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Dan Robinson |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:18 pm | #
marky,
For Meyers and another favorite go to these Daily Howler links.
Loved your posts over there. In my perverse way, contemplating the crazies nuking Iran WAS optimistic. You see if I contemplate it, the military has contemplated it, they've wargamed it and see that we'd simply provoke a massive nuclear response. Which would, of course, make our way of life way too negotiable. At some point the professional military and people of means start thinking about making it very difficult for the chiefs of the neocons to keep breathing, if you get my drift, and they telegraph that fact by Western Union. Political action on the part of the military has a bunch of downsides, yet it beats the worst logical conclusions hands-down. Har-megido is just a shitty trailer park in Israel, after all. No fate but what we make.
MarcLord |
02.26.06 - 10:30 pm | #
Wikipedia accuracy: Interesting study sans coulotte mentioned in Nature. but if you read Wikipedia articles, you will see that many of them are based on old public domain Encyclopedia Britannica articles. Authors start with old public domain EB article as a base and then gussy it up. I will look at original Nature article and see if it does any adjustment for that.
I think it is good practice to double check facts from Wikipedia wth other sources before relying on it for current events. Trying to check a Wiki article by looking at discussion page can be daunting -the arguments can be hard to follow, you don't know the qualifications of many of the authors, or the source of their assertions. I am currently befuddled by an argument going on about the Wiki article on my home town. So how can I rely solely on a Wiki article about Iran, or for clues to Bushite skullduggery?
anon_1 |
02.26.06 - 10:30 pm | #
OT, but right in line with all the other Bush crimes:
The next battlefield in massive election fraud is California.
Diebold law firm whistleblower convicted for exposing California Dieblold machines as using uncertified software. Diebold was warned, they did it anyway, and now this guy is going to jail for spilling the beans on them. California AG pulls a flip-flop...
Now, what was the other official reason (besides the nonexistent WMD) that Bush and the PNAC Platoon wanted to invade Iraq? "He killed his own people!" Apparently, what they were really objecting to was that he didn't kill enough of them.
Phoenix Woman |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:34 pm | #
No, Michelle Malkin is a top locked in a bottom's body.
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Dan Robinson |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:35 pm | #
Yeah anon_1, I wouldn't rely on wikipedia for accuracy, but the discussion made me remember that story a while back. I just thought it was interesting. I find wikipedia useful as a starting point on a lot of topics, and a lot of the time the source material is linked at the bottom so it makes it easy to verify.
I still don't know what oracle post is being referred to. ??
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:36 pm | #
Anyone hear from Harry lately? Is he still in the hospital? Has he been inducted into the Knights That say Nee yet?
biklett |
02.26.06 - 10:39 pm | #
thanks conchita. ;)
I've had the suspician that the DP deal may be some sort of quid pro quo for a basing station for troops and a port by which we can keep the Strait of Hormuz open once we start bombing Iran.
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 10:40 pm | #
In fairness to Barbara, this sort of corruption barely qualifies her to be a junior varsity Republican.
Frank Probst |
02.26.06 - 10:41 pm | #
Anyone hear from Harry lately? Is he still in the hospital? Has he been inducted into the Knights That say Nee yet?
biklett | 02.26.06 - 10:39 pm | #
--------------------------------------------------
---------
I'm much more curious about the location of the guides. And the Swiss Miss, of course. Missing white women can be SO hard to find.
Frank Probst |
02.26.06 - 10:43 pm | #
I'd say Oracle's probably pretty close if not right on. There are definitely major plans being made to start bombing Iran in the near future and it has everything to do with maintaining the US petrodollar standard and keeping Iran from switching to the Euro in March, just like Iraq did in 2000.
Anyone who has any doubts that's what Iraq was about or that we will soon be bombing Iran for the same reasons really ought to read his House floor speech from a week and a half ago by Congressman Ron Paul TX (R).
It's really long, but worth the read. Here's a taste...
the dollar/oil relationship has to be maintained to keep the dollar as a preeminent currency. Any attack on this relationship will be forcefully challenged—as it already has been.
In November 2000 Saddam Hussein demanded Euros for his oil....Within a very short period after the military victory, all Iraqi oil sales were carried out in dollars. The Euro was abandoned....
Now, a new attempt is being made against the petrodollar system. Iran, another member of the “axis of evil,” has announced her plans to initiate an oil bourse in March of this year. Guess what, the oil sales will be priced Euros, not dollars....
Iran, like Iraq, has zero capability to attack us. But that didn’t stop us from turning Saddam Hussein into a modern day Hitler ready to take over the world. Now Iran, especially since she’s made plans for pricing oil in Euros, has been on the receiving end of a propaganda war not unlike that waged against Iraq before our invasion....
It seems that the people and Congress are easily persuaded by the jingoism of the preemptive war promoters. It’s only after the cost in human life and dollars are tallied up that the people object to unwise militarism.
The strange thing is that the failure in Iraq is now apparent to a large majority of American people, yet they and Congress are acquiescing to the call for a needless and dangerous confrontation with Iran... http://www.house.gov/paul/congre...06/
cr021506.htm
Overall, Stories in America is an excellent blog. Here is a brief synopsis of the site:
"Name: Rose
"After the 2004 election, I decided it was time to leave the liberal bubble of San Francisco and travel to the so-called 'Red States' to find out why people vote the way they do and what they think about politics. On April 20, I began a six-month road trip to Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Montana. I'm currently writing a book about my experience."
Welfl |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 11:08 pm | #
Goodnight Jane-Get some extra rest. Wish I had a 'malkin' for my a.m. chores!
wilbo |
02.26.06 - 11:10 pm | #
All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights
Are spectacled to see him: your prattling nurse
Into a rapture lets her baby cry
While she chats him: the kitchen *Malkin* pins
Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck,
Clambering the walls to eye him.
Coriolanus II.1
I guess the Malkin is eager to see the new Bushus Coriolanus, who is still a child in this new modern version, strutting about the meadow far from the dangerous frontlines, and still gleefully tearing the wings off of butterflies.
I like the Shakespeare’s version better, this new one is too creepy for me, like the pic for this post.
anon_1 |
02.26.06 - 11:10 pm | #
I did RGB, he emailed me earlier and I told him I'd link him up so it's on the front page.
wilbo -- you are too funny.
jane hamsher |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 11:11 pm | #
Rep Ron Paul's a smart guy and he doesn't walk lock & step with the rest of the repubs but he's not someone I'd vote for.
He was the only member of Congress to vote against Rosa Parks getting a congressional medal of honor I believe.
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 11:12 pm | #
Iran starting an oil market and eventually (but not right away) trying to peg crude oil to euros will not have much impact on US $ as international reserve currency, IMHO. If all current paper currencies go belly up someday, they will do so with or without a spot oil market where oil is bought for euros rather than dollars. Course, I'm a very mainstream economist, not a gold bug, so some might take my opinion with a grain of salt (economists: poeplel who are usually wrong but never in doubt.)
anon_1 |
02.26.06 - 11:20 pm | #
CMike,
Thanks for the links to the Daily Howler...its been a long time since I've been there and it was good to be back.
RBG |
02.26.06 - 11:28 pm | #
Point being, Iran or Venezuelan or Iraq oil markets in euros is not a short term or medium term threat to US $. US may be hanging itself with current fiscal and macro trade policy, but if so we will hang with or without paying for oil with euros. If Bushco is worried about this, it is not a reality-based worry. But I guess that has never stopped them before. I would believe that BushCo worries about this, before I believe that it is reality-based worry.
anon_1 |
02.26.06 - 11:30 pm | #
Hey all,
We've been really busy in Cheyenne forming a group of private citizens to protest at various times against the Bush admin. based loosely upon the worldcan'twait website.
Some members got airtime on NPR when Cheney showed up last weekend. They were frozen in the sub zero temperatures but they got their message across.
While our next project is in the hatching phase, it centers around the current Rep. from wY, Barbara Cubin. She has had a dismal attendance record and a horrible vote record. Most of the repubs I know can't stand her.
We will be attempting to show her voting record and tying it in with the nationwide discontent for the GOP. It will be in bite size chunks for the average citizen, with wording that would make Rove envious. Another facet of the plan involves getting an independent on the ballet that could pull votes out of her base.
Our group has grown from two, to seven, to slightly under twenty, growing exponentially by the week. To remain effective in our political environment we are not entertaining any affiliation with any national orgs. We have members from conservative independents to liberal progressives with one goal, "check the overreach by the executive branch and bring the current administration to justice."
Our group finds hope in the fact that these groups are springing up all over the country. Projects such as the "roots" project FDL is participating in are starting to effect change.
Keep refining your message and continue to add to your email address book, forwarding those great clips and hyperlinks.
Even here in Wyoming, we can feel the tide is turning!
wyonate |
02.26.06 - 11:31 pm | #
off topic, but in re: previous post on South Dakota anti-choice legislation written by those who are themselves sexually repugnant: the General has written a mash note to, and posted a pic of, the charming Sen. Julie Bartling, Democratic Whip of the South Dakota State Senate.
rcauthen |
Homepage |
02.26.06 - 11:36 pm | #
I had to post that after Jane's comment about long OT posts.
anon_1,
There has been a lot written about exactly how switching from Euros to dollars, which Iran proposes to do all at once next month, will be destabilizing to the dollar. A look back at the Euro compared to the dollar for the period of time Saddam had Iraq on the Euro and the correction since is a taste of what will happen.
It has more to do with them switching from US dollars to Euros as its foreign exchange reserves at the same time. Also, Venezuela and to a lesser extent Russia are in the process of doing the same thing, albeit much more gradually. This has much to do with why the US will no longer publish the M3 monetary aggregate coinciding with Iran's move. http://www.federalreserve.gov/re...s/h6/
discm3.htm
Libby-ration movement gets going
Former Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby might be facing a criminal trial in the Plamegate scandal, but he still has plenty of juice. Yesterday, fancy friends of the Veep's indicted underling — such as magazine mogul Steve Forbes, Republican spinmeister Mary Matalin and "Law & Order" star and one-time senator Fred Thompson — launched www.scooterlibby.com.
Former State Department poobah Dennis Ross, a Democrat, told me, "I'm involved for one reason: Scooter has been my friend for the past 25 years." Former Ambassador to Italy Mel Sembler called Libby "one of the unsung heroes" of "the war on terror," and said the site will raise money to pay Libby's lawyers.
Libby's pals have raised $2 million since November. The site spotlights Cheney's testimonial that "Scooter Libby is one of the most talented and capable individuals I have ever known," and also features sympathetic quotes from the likes of Fox News anchor Brit Hume.
We are confident that he'll be exonerated," Washington lobbyist Barbara Comstock told me yesterday, adding that Libby's indictment is the latest example of "the crminalizing of politics."
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Valley Girl |
02.26.06 - 11:38 pm | #
Wyonate,
Good to hear from you. I asked about you a while back. We were curious how your SOTU protest went.
A ten-fold increase in membership in just over a month. That's some serious organizing. Cheyenne would be prime territory for Mike Stark's project.
Since I blew it, I'll cap it off with this...
(tinfoil helmets, ready?)
-Articles popping up about Musharraf losing power in Pakistan, far right grabbing power, and Bin Laden becoming spiritual president.
-Iran chomping at the bit for the civil war to break out in Iraq, let the Shia hit the fan.
-Al qaeda chomping at the bit as well.
-every rich GOP leader chomping at the bit as well. Can you say defense contractors?
-When we first got HBO, I think I was about 9 or 10, and I watched the show "Man who saw tomorrow" with Orson Welles. He could make you skin crawl with just the inflection of his voice. I'll never forget the part in that show when the purple turbanned bad guy launches nukes on the U.S.
What the hell color does beret does Musharraf wear?
Damn you Orson Welles...
(hey, its windy and cold here, we have a lot of time on our hands)
wyonate |
02.26.06 - 11:48 pm | #
Cool RBG.
Will do.
Have to run, writing a wonderful 9 page essay on "Why you should do business with Nicaragua".
Barbara Comstock, the former Justice Department spokeswoman, loves to tell the story of the time in the late 1990's when President Bill Clinton's lawyer Robert Bennett ran into her at ABC, where she was waiting with a conservative friend, Barbara Olson, who later died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Bob comes in and says to us, 'Oh, it's the Barbarellas!' " Ms. Comstock said. "And I immediately said to him: 'Oh, Bob, you think of us as sex objects in cone bras?' And of course this was in the middle of the whole Clinton thing, and we said: 'Don't worry, Bob, actually we're teasing. We're Republicans. We take that as a compliment.' "
---"I think people are at their most vulnerable stage when they're getting their hair and makeup done," said Ms. Brazile, who was on one show with Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton. "When I recently went in, I saw Secretary Norton, and I said, 'Hey, girl!' I mean, I never met her before in my life, and I went up and talked to her about wildlife and fisheries and the job they're doing down in Louisiana."---
Gotta love 'em cone bra BRAAbarella and BRAAzile, true patriots, uplifting...
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Valley Girl |
02.26.06 - 11:58 pm | #
sans-culotte: nice article you linked to, thanks: balanced and good on the economics. I suppose the article nudges you in one direction, and it nudges me in another. Some points that might nudge you back towards skepticism:
1) spot commodity markets very dinky compared to other currency markets, so all futures and derivatives markets would have to follow to have big impact
2) euro has its own problems as an international reserve currency (like, will some big European economies say "heck with the euro" and pull out -who wants to go into euro and have it go belly up as next intnl resrve currency
3) Germany runs euro monetary policy -they are stingy and anti-inflationary (one reason why European unemployment rates tend to be higher) -they might not find it convenient to be next global reserve currency. Some individual European economies might not find it pleasant for their economies.
So, an oil market might roil things a bit, but I cannot see it as a big threat. BushCo might be nuts enough to commit violence because of a fantasy, though, so your scenario still concerns me.
I think Bush macroeconomic policies are nuts, so don't get me wrong on that point.
We may just disagree on the likelihood of the threat to $. I think its small. The probability of it damaging US economy or hegemony is too small IMHO to start a war over. Not that this would stop them.
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 12:00 am | #
Jane, how much extra time would it have taken you to write "off topic" instead of "OT"? There are just too many abbreviations on the internet to run all the possible combinations through ones mind every time one encounters one. It was only after reading someone else's apology for an off-topic post that I realized I came close to doing the same thing.
Anon |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 12:02 am | #
Shame on them.
If firedoglake was around 10 years ago they never would have gotten away with the Clinton witch hunt.
How much was spent on Whitewater? How many NYTimes pages were written on Monicagate?
Mike P |
02.27.06 - 12:08 am | #
i think the indicator for me is the fact that Russia and Venezuela have begun reducing their dollar reserves over the past several months in favor of the Euro. Now that the Euro has surpassed the dollar in gdp with much less foreign debt it's starting to look better than the dollar.
That and Condi's making Iran out to be an immediate threat when it just isn't (yet) doesn't make any sense unless they really do plan on attacking Iran in the near future. Hopefully the deal Iran just made with Russia will shut condi & Bolton up and stave off a US attack. If it doesn't we'll know then it's not about the nukes.
For those who missed them, the deleted comments were a four part copy and paste job that ran over a dozen pages. Much of the text could easily have been linked from sites that many of us know and love. I wouldn’t dare speak for Jane but IMO it wasn’t the content that was inappropriate but the absurd length.
Some of us can be long winded at times, and I, for one, have a hard time staying on topic, but this was way…way over the top.
We now return to our regularly scheduled commenting.
RBG |
02.27.06 - 12:26 am | #
ROFLMAO
jane hamsher |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 12:29 am | #
sans-culotte: I guess we follow different sources for intnl currency markets. Dollar is overvalued based on intnl macrofinance alone, so no surprize that countries w large US $ reserves are diversifying. What Asian economies do, particularly Japan and China, far more important than Russia or Venezuela. Only Japan, China and small group of Asian econs such as S Korea have large enough reserves, large enough currency and bond transactions for big impact, or incentive to keep dollar high. Both to protect their reserves and keep exports volume high. Everything could fall down around our ears in a fee months (or not) based on lots of non-oil considerations.
I have to sleep now, but I just have three questions and will check back in case you read this:
1) Do you think that, apart from what Bush will do about it, opening a spot oil market with pmnt in euros is a short term threat to US $ value?
2) Do you think that an attack on Iran (any kind of military action, from a few strikes to invasion) would make things worse or better?
3) Do you think Bush could hide the military build up needed for a large action? If so, where would he get the men? Do you think that some kind of warning strike, or nuke strike would do anything good at all?
4) If you think Iran's oil market plans are a threat what would you do?
Those are not rhetorical questions, and I have no point to make with them. I am just curious.
My answers:
1: no 2: make things much worse, US $ wise 3: no, no idea, no, absolutely not 4: nothing specific about oil markets, reduce deficit by increasing taxes on rich, quit gaming US bond market to pretty up US fiscal financials, energy conservation big time.
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 12:37 am | #
I assmed the comments on intl currency markets were too long by definition, regardless of word count. Wheeww! It wasn't s-c an me. but I plunged ahead regardless and look forward to s-c's reply.
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 12:42 am | #
-- "Man who saw tomorrow" with Orson Welles.
Last comment for tonight: that better not be a joke. I wanna see an episode of that, if such exists.
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 12:44 am | #
Just another indication of how corrupt the "culture of corruption" Republicans really are.
And how they have gamed the news media in an attempt to control the information all U.S. citizens require to make informed decisions.
Just like the Nazis controlled the information in the Third Reich. Just like the Communists controlled the information in the Soviet Union, and as they still do in Red Commieland in China.
Which is why the "free-flow" of information on the Internet is driving these Nazi/Communist/Republicans batty.
Which is why they are hell-bent on reining in the "free-flow" of information across the Internet that they can't control, similar to the Nazi/Communist/Republican control they have exerted over most of the MSM.
But at least now we are aware of why they keep trying to censor stuff on the Internet, and why their Nazi/Communist/Republican lackeys at the Internet service providers are pushing for this "pay to play" Internet pricing strategy.
Nazis. Communists. Neo-con Republicans. The scrourge of any Free Society.
The Oracle |
02.27.06 - 12:44 am | #
Salon has published an interview with Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff at the State Dept. In it, he says that he saw a memo from SecDef Donald Rumsfeld authorizing the "stress" techniques seen at Abu Ghraib.
Of course, you have to either have a subscription or watch an advertisement:
sans-culotte @ 02.27.06 - 12:21 am -- Looks encouraging, but it wouldn't be the first time an encouraging negotation went sour on this issue.
Cujo359 |
02.27.06 - 1:07 am | #
Oh my. We lost another giant today.
Octavia Butler, dies at 58.. link
JWR |
02.27.06 - 1:09 am | #
JWR @ 02.27.06 - 1:09 am | Octavia Butler, dies at 58..
I don't think I've read anything she's written. I suspect I'd remember if I had. Hers sounded like a unique point of view in science fiction. Nevertheless, her name sounds familiar.
She does have an IMDB entry, but not for writing credits:
It was I who posted the offending lengthy comment last night. I did it as a favor to a friend who was not able, knowing that I would not have time today, and because we both agreed that it is an important issue and were concerned that Oracle's original comment had gone unnoticed. I apologize for not linking and paraphrazing
Emptywheel's and Forest Anacher's diaries, but honestly did not have time. I also thought they were both extremely well written and annotated and worth the read.
Read in juxtaposition with Oracle's comment a picture begins to appear connecting the Armstrongs and Cheney with James Baker and drums of war. I, for one, am hardly anxious to see a repeat of the lead up to Iraq. For those who are interested in pursuing this, the links for Oracle's comment and the kos diaries follow: ttp://www.haloscan.com/comments/firedoglake/
114091394534022014/#279297
from this post http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/...91394534022014;
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonl.../20/45756/6926;
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonl...2/23/14935/
2494.
conchita |
02.27.06 - 5:10 am | #
This has nothing to do with Comstock but I think it is important and hopefully not too long!
The trouble with Iran opening an Oil Bourse trading in Euros is that it will diminish the demand for US currency which means the price for it will drop. It's pretty straightforward - supply and demand.
Currently, if you want to but oil you must first but US dollars.
To supply this demand for US Currency, the US Federal Reserve obligingly creates it.
The Fed also creates the money to fund the internal US Gross Domestic Product (GDP - the value of one years production)
All countries' Central Banks get to create their money to facilitate the trading of their countriy's production. But the US Federal Reserve gets to create not only the money for the US GDP but also to fund the worlds trade in oil.
And they create all this money at no cost to themselves. They don't spend it into the world community but, rather, they lend it out ...... and charge interest.....year after year.
It's a nice little earner, as they say, for the owners of the Fed.
And the owners of the Fed are ....... privately owned banks.
If the demand significantly drops then the value drops which is another way of saying inflation will rise significantly.
To counter this the only thing the Fed (and their owners) can do is shrink the Money Supply by redeeming their dollar loans and not re-issueing them. Which means they will suffer massive loss of capital.
Alternatively, the bankers can try and force the world to continue to buy oil in US $ by stopping the Iranian Bourse any way they can.
Griffon |
02.27.06 - 5:16 am | #
Way Way OT and I apologize, but going to be out most of today and won't get to post this later. The below article in the WaPo just got my day off right. It appears that this non profit in Texas can do some damage to DeLay and his cronies. It actually already has and DeLay sent the IRS to audit them. They got a clean report from the IRS. HA.HA.HA.
If I have money left over after supporting my local Democrats I'm going to send this group a donation and make it in honor of Tom DeLay. I need to find DeLay's birthday. That would be the perfect gift idea.
Griffon, so the US bankers have moved beyond crony-capitalist to anti-capitalist behavior?
I recall reading in 2002 and early 2003 that the reason the U.S. wanted to go to war was because Iraq was starting to base their oil trade in Euros. But I only saw this in a few online mags that tended toward exaggeration and so were hard to take seriously. Their argument was that the U.S. economy would collapse if the majority of the oil trade was in Euros and putting a stop to this was the real reason Bush Co. went to war.
agliss |
02.27.06 - 5:36 am | #
For anyone interested in how the Fed "do it",
the most straightforward explanation I have found is "The Truth In Money Book" (I have no commercial interest in this).
There is no better proof that our government takes its orders from corporate interests than these kinds of moves. That's what this UAE deal is all about - the mixture of the right-wing's goal of privatizing all government services (even post 9/11 port security!) with the political Establishment's desire to make sure Tom-Friedman-style "free" trade orthodoxy supersedes everything. This is where the culture of corruption meets national security policy - and, more specifically, where the unbridled corruption of on-the-take politicians are weakening America's security.
Didn't Paul O'Neill lose his job because of Dubai??????
ccmask |
02.27.06 - 5:44 am | #
agliss,
We cross posted.
Yes Iraq went to euros in 2000 sometime. Don't know the exact date.
After the US invaded, one of the first things they did was put the oil trade back to $US.
Trading oil in Euros means that there is less demand for $US which means the price drops relative to other currencies (incl Euros).
Which means anyone importing into the US will have to pay more for the same goods and anyone exporting will get paid less.
Oil exporters will want more US dollars in exchange for their oil which means oil goes up in price in the US and probably very significantly
Griffon |
02.27.06 - 5:51 am | #
Bush making us even MORE unsafe by weakening our national guard.
NYT article here.
Stacy |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 6:04 am | #
If I remember correctly (IIRC)
OT = Other thing.
OfT = Off Topic.
John Casper |
02.27.06 - 6:08 am | #
thanks, John.
OfT
Suskind over at Kos has a diary re Harper's front page with impeachment!!
That Harper's article is a good one.My copy of Harper's didn't have that little red half cover thingy on it though(I have a subscription,maybe that's why?).
An Angry Old Broad |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 6:16 am | #
wyonate -- Do you have a web page or other contact info for your group? I have a family friend in Cheyenne who I think would be interested.
Redshift |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 6:17 am | #
a little monday am humor for you junkies (and I proudly count myself in that group) awaiting this morning's post
Snort. It looks like even Byron York, he of the magnificent hair, is admitting Plame was covert.
You can almost hear him sniffing and tossing his mane ....
Lots of whining about Fitz not falling into the graymail or subpeona the call the CIA trap. And notices how he still is twisting and deliberately misconstruing Fitz's statement into "it doesn't matter that she was." Fitz is right - it doesn't matter to what Libby was charged with. And just because you can't PROVE a violation of IIPA doesn't mean there wasn't one.
Thanks for that bit you left me two threads ago,but I can't locate the Tobin-Madsen story. Did you have a link?
Jane --
Thanks for keeping the heat on the evil harpy; she's had a direct and negative impact on the welfare of the American public and she needs to have her feet held to the fire until she retires to her hearth as the model conservative wife and mother she demands of the rest of us.
Rayne |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 6:35 am | #
new thread -- keep your guard up!
Wilson46201 |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 7:00 am | #
Nice work on Comstock Jane
She has many skeletons in her closet that won't stand the light of day.
Illuminating this pitiful excuse for a mammal could possibly help throw a mighty monkey wrench into Team Libby's already lame-ass defense.
In these strange times we should not be thinking of knockout blows to the forces of darkest but to leveraging our energies into 'tipping points' of advantage.
Often times things just need a slight push in the right time at the right place with a modest amount of information.
Don't fire til you see the whites of their eyes.
Comstock is sinkable.
Talking Points and Tipping Points are symbiotic.
Gather as much intel on this wicked witch of the east and then with a little finesse and patience, we might be able to drop a house on her, or at least a piano.
Gentleman Jim |
02.27.06 - 7:05 am | #
anon_1
Sorry I dozed off myself. I agree with Ron Paul that our economy has been almost wholly dependent on being the oil standard since the 70's oil crisis. To make matters worse, Bush's deficits have resulted in nearly tripling of our net foreign debt. This has been reckless and makes our economy very vulnerable to what Iran plans to do. If you read Paul's speech, he explains full well why, and I totally agree.
Not only that, but for months now there have been a series of foreign policy lectures by Bush-friendly economists and intl security experts at my college saying exactly the same thing Ron Paul said, with a heavy emphasis on the need to militarily thwart Iran's plans ASAP. Their agenda has been to overtly sell an attack on iran as a good idea to thwart the effects of the oil bourse. That's what got me looking into this months ago.
my answers to your questions
1)Q: Do you think that, apart from what Bush will do about it, opening a spot oil market with pmnt in euros is a short term threat to US $ value?
A: Short term no. Long term YES, very much so. I believe it opens the flood gates to a long term recession/depression for the US. Again, what Ron Paul said.
2)Q: Do you think that an attack on Iran (any kind of military action, from a few strikes to invasion) would make things worse or better?
A: I think it may stave off their economic plans, and send another message to other states that the US will defend the petrodollar system militarily. That said, I think it could very well backfire, especially if the US indeed uses tactical nukes to take out their bunkered sites. There will be an international backlash.
3)Q: Do you think Bush could hide the military build up needed for a large action? If so, where would he get the men? Do you think that some kind of warning strike, or nuke strike would do anything good at all?
A: The US has already deployed nearly all the muscle it needs to pull off the initial air campaign, which is all that's being considered. We have 2 carrier fleets in the area right now. 1 has been deployed throughout Iraq, and another was sent to supposedly guard the coast of Yemen. The basic idea is to strike nearly all of the major targets within the 24 hr window that Bush is allowed to do without notifying Congress first. Much of that effort would come from subs.
I fear that any attack against Iran will double or even triple the barrel price of oil for the short term, and level out near $100 a barrel for the long term.
AP: Iran Sanctions Could Drive Oil Past $100 http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds.../
ap2467049.html
CNN/Money: Ready for $262/barrel oil? http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/27/...dex.htm?
cnn=yes
4)Q: If you think Iran's oil market plans are a threat what would you do?
A: I wouldn't have mortgaged our economy with the record deficits to be so vulnerable in the first place. Now I believe we are in a lose-lose situation. I would not bomb any country that did not attack us first or was not an eminent military threat under any circumstances.
Anonymous |
02.27.06 - 7:25 am | #
Anonymous | 02.27.06 - 7:25 am
that was me.
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 7:27 am | #
I just ordered a subscription of Harper's....unfortunately, it will begin in April--damn-I really wanted that Impeach issue!
Thanx Angie & Angry for head's up. I love their online stories and just needed a little push to get it delivered.
ccmask |
02.27.06 - 7:27 am | #
Yes Iraq went to euros in 2000 sometime. Don't know the exact date.
Griffon 5:51 am
Iraq nets handsome profit by dumping dollar for euro A bizarre political statement by Saddam Hussein has earned Iraq a windfall of hundreds of million of euros. In October 2000 Iraq insisted on dumping the US dollar - 'the currency of the enemy' - for the more multilateral euro. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
i...,896344,00.html
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 7:31 am | #
For a lesson on how the US economy is dependent on being the oil standard and why Iran's oil bourse is a serious threat please read this speech.
HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
Before the U.S. House of Representatives
February 15, 2006
sans-culotte re euro vs dollar: I guess my mainstream is showing. Bush macrofinance policies could well lead to $ crisis and recession, but this will happen for reasons other than whether $ used for oil, or for reserve currencies held by oil producers. Spot crude oil markets just not big enough to cause problem. Asian and European Union are big enough, and private speculators concerned with those markets, not oil.
I think we agree that some oil producers changing to euro for reserve currency does not pose severe short term threat to US $, that military action by Bush to stop it would be counterproductive and immoral, that Bush macroeconomics policies are crazy and self destructive.
I guess we disagree about what this means for US $ as reserve currency. I think it all means nothing. I predict US $ will be reserve currency for a long time, even if Bush macro policies cause a $ crisis that pounds US economy good. These two different issues IMHO.
As for fiat money, don't bet against it. There is saying: "do you know how to make a small fortune in commodity markets? Start with a large fortune." There could be a saying for commodity money: "Know how to go broke in currency markets? Start with a large fortune and believe the gold standard will come back."
Sorry that economic cranks have have been lecturing at your university. Sounds like there are Bushite economists and security experts who are conflicted Ron Paul's with issues. I think they have unduly influenced your thinking in some ways.
forgot to add comment on abandoning M3 measure: monetary aggregates have failed to measure much of anything. That is source of failure of Milton Friedman's macro monetary theory. Friedman did not receive his Nobel prize for that work, and for good reason. I recomomend Mark Thomas and Nouriel Roubini's blogs for info on monetary policy.
**Some one else used anon_1 this morning who is not me. I guess I finally will have to choose a name.**
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 8:14 am | #
"Sorry that economic cranks have have been lecturing at your university. Sounds like there are Bushite economists and security experts who are conflicted Ron Paul's with issues."
This is supposed to mean that there are Bushites who believe Paul's commodity money theories, and do not have a good idea what to do. Because if you buy Paul's idea on money, Bush's macro policies go from being risky and counterproductive to being complete and utter suicidal lunacy.
I am glad I do not live in their conceptual universe. They must have willies. With all due respect to your money beliefs, I think that they are delusional.
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 8:20 am | #
You may be right anon_1, and I hope you are, but I should note the series of lectures have been pushing these ideas directly on behalf of the Whitehouse to poli sci depts all up and down the east coast at least, trying to convince us the "merits" of bombing Iran. They did a similar thing for a year or so before the Iraq war.
Ron Paul is just pointing out what the Bush administration has been preaching for some time. He didn't make this theory up that the petrodollar standard must be defended militarily. That's been coming straight from the Whitehouse ever since Bushco came into office.
Maybe the real threat is more to US oil firm's bottom line than the US economy?
sans-culotte |
Homepage |
02.27.06 - 9:21 am | #
sans-culotte: Not sure I understand the situation. Let me try. Bushite gold-bugs pull a "create a fiat currency disaster" scenario to promote existence of a crisis and then use that as an excuse to start a resource war. And this fantastic plan to solve a crisis which (from reality based perspective) does not exist, and will definitely make things much much worse from currency point of view, and econ point of view. Is that right.
Now you have me worried. Still think the Ron Paul view of reality wrong. But idea that such delusional immoral extremists as you describe have influence is frigthtening.
My bottom line wrt reality:
Spot commodity markets are two dinky to make a difference. Currency used to pay can be sterlized and not affect health of world reserve currency.
anon_1 |
02.27.06 - 10:46 am | #
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Liza398 |
Homepage |
02.09.07 - 11:15 am | #
