With Allies Like These, Yes, Who Needs Enemies?

Agents from MI6 entered secret talks with Taliban leaders despite Gordon Brown's pledge that Britain would not negotiate with terrorists, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Iran's defense minister said Wednesday that Russia is preparing to deliver powerful new air defense systems that would dramatically increase his nation's ability to repel an attack.

How The World Works

The mad dogs howl...

Raw Story:

When Hillary Clinton predicted on Saturday that if she is elected "the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil," she meant it as a warning, not as a campaign promise.

Clinton pointed to what happened in the 1980's, when Ronald Reagan "dismantled" the steps towards energy independence taken by President Jimmy Carter after oil prices soared in the 1970's. "Because costs were low, people didn't care," Clinton said, but she cautioned that we can't afford to be fooled the same way again. "We've got to figure out how were going to not be the frog in the cold water anymore."

Now it seems that Clinton's attempted warning against complacency when it comes to our dependence on foreign oil may have been too subtle, because right-wing bloggers quickly twisted it into something very different.

"Hillary Clinton has ramped up the pandering and outright lies of her campaign by claiming that electing her to the presidency will instantly lower the price of oil," grumbled Big Dogs Weblog. "The Arabs are probably keeping the oil price high to help Democrats win the White House anyway. The Democrats have a history of being in bed with the terrorists and the Commies."

"Well unless she is in the pocket book of OPEC I don't really see how this is possible," wrote a blogger at Our Nation UnDivided. "Of course we did go to Iraq for oil as many people think, so maybe she will open up their reserves for our using. If that was the purpose for the war and all. Or maybe she is just hoping some naive or uneducated Americans will pick up on her lies and actually vote for her."

ThatPoliticalBlog raised even more sinister concerns, writing, "On the surface it looks like standard electioneering BS promises to the voters. Offer them anything that will win their votes is typical Democrat strategy. Nevertheless, what if this is some real insight into something much more menacing? ... Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine Hillary attempting to nationalize American oil?"

Our Wonderful Economy

Fox Bidness Journal:

A closely watched gauge of U.S. home prices shows they are falling sharply across most of the nation, as a deepening slump in the housing market threatens to damp consumer spending.

Home prices in 10 major metropolitan areas in October were down 6.7% from a year earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price indexes, released yesterday by credit-rating firm Standard & Poor's. That exceeded the previous record year-to-year decline of 6.3% in April 1991, when the economy was emerging from a recession. (See a PDF summary of the report.)

New statistics from the Census Bureau, meanwhile, indicate a slowdown in the number of Americans moving to states that led the housing boom, including Nevada, Florida and Arizona.

***

During the housing boom in the first half of this decade, fast-rising home prices made it easy for homeowners to take out home-equity loans or refinance their primary mortgages to extract some cash. That helped sustain consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity.

Economists now worry that falling home prices will prompt consumers to pull back on spending enough to slow growth or even tip the economy into recession. "Eventually what's happening in the housing market is going to catch up with us," says Patrick Newport, an economist at research-firm Global Insight Inc.

More here.

Mendicancy

Greenwald:

"When I talk to senior government officials on the phone, it's my own policy -- our conversations are confidential. If I want to use anything from that conversation, then I will ask permission" --
Tim Russert, under oath at the Lewis Libby trial, citing the textbook function of a government propagandist to explain his role as a "journalist."


"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format," as it allows us to "control the message" --
Cheney media aide Cathie Martin, under oath at the Libby trial, making clear how well Russert fulfills his function.

* * * * *
"I am so uninterested in the Democrats wanting Karl Rove, because it is so bad for them. Because it shows business as usual, tit for tat, vengeance" --
Time Magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel, emphasizing how bored he is by efforts to uncover Karl Rove's role in the firing of U.S. attorneys.


"As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off" --
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, explaining why it's best if government wrongdoing, such as Lewis Libby's perjury, remains concealed.


"YAAWWN. That's my view of the Libby flap" --
Washington Post National Political Reporter Shailagh Murray, emphasizing how bored she is by the story of the President of the United States protecting one his top aides, a convicted felon, from prison.


"Breathless." "Hot rhetoric." "Whenever that big day comes, Dodd -- as the keeper of the 'hold' -- must return from the campaign trail to officially block debate on the bill. . . . -- time that Dodd, who is trailing badly in early primary polls, can scarcely afford" --
Washington Post National Political Reporter Shailagh Murray, emphasizing how bored she is by efforts to stand up to the President's lawbreaking, torture, abolition of habeas corpus, and warrantless surveillance.


"Some stories stay alive longer than others because they reveal a more serious vulnerability. In Iowa, planting questions calls into question your authenticity -- something Clinton struggles to demonstrate on the best of days, because she's just not a gal who wings it. This episode sort of reminds me of the John Kerry windsurfing photo. It's the sort of thing that can linger in the mind" --
Washington Post National Political Reporter Shailagh Murray, emphasizing the issues that really matter to her, the ones that "linger" in her mind.

* * * * *
"Does he have sex appeal? . . . Can you smell the English leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man's shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of, a little bit of cigar smoke?" --
Chris Matthews, fantasizing about the pleasing, manly body smells of Fred Thompson.


"There is a hierarchical, there is, dare I say it, male, there is an old-line quality to them that some voters, indeed a lot of voters, find reassuring. And this is something that the Democrats need to understand" --
Newsweek's Howard Fineman, admiring the calming masculinity of the GOP presidential candidates and warning Democrats to take heed.


"What's appealing about Rudy Giuliani is not the generous side, what's appealing about him is the tough cop side.
Right. You just wait until daddy gets home.
Yes, that part...
That Daddy.
... of the daddy. It's the tough cop side, so...
Yes. Yes" --
Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman, breathlessly sharing their excitement over the firmness of their Daddy, Rudy Giuliani.


He has "chiseled-out-of-granite features, a full, dark head of hair going a distinguished gray at the temples, and a barrel chest . . . . and has shoulders you could land a 737 on" --
Roger Simon, The Politico's chief political columnist, enthusiastically admiring numerous parts of Mitt Romney's body.


"The press here does a fantastic job of adhering to journalistic standards and covering politics in general" --
Newsweek's Richard Wolffe, at the National Press Club, chatting with Tony Snow and Karl Rove's dancing partner, David Gregory, about how partisan and hateful bloggers are and how professional and "fantastic" our national press corps is.

* * * * *
"Well, John Edwards' campaign for president spent $400 on February 20, and another $400 on March 7, at a top Beverly Hills men's stylist, Torrenueva Hair Designs. . . . Only Edwards, however, has had the care he takes with his hair memorialized on YouTube" --
The Politico's Ben Smith, breaking wide open the modern press corps' Watergate, one of the most discussed political stories of 2007.


"John Edwards is suspending his campaign for President, and may drop out completely, because his wife has suffered a recurrence of the cancer that sickened her in 2004, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, an Edwards friend told The Politico" --
The Politico's Ben Smith, 53 minutes before Edwards announced that his wife had cancer and he would stay in the race.


"[The Politico's Ben] Smith also has a too-broad denial from Edwards [to a rumor that he is having an affair]: 'The story is false' . . . . Edwards' peculiar vulnerability should the allegation be believed is suggested by this Reuters lede"--
Slate's Mickey Kaus -- who, a month later, similarly amplified an equally sleazy whispering campaign about Hillary's rumored lesbian affair with a young Muslim aide -- proving conclusively that one can actually occupy a sewer level beneath the one where The Politico and Drudge reside.

* * * * *
"Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi quashed the House Intelligence Committee's bipartisan effort and supported a Democratic bill that -- Limbaugh is salivating -- would require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court, an institution founded to protect the rights of U.S. citizens only. In the lethal shorthand of political advertising, it would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans. That is well beyond stupid" --
Joe Klein of Time Magazine, acting as spokesman for GOP Rep. Pete Hoekstra, smearing the Democrats with patently false statements.


"I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right" --
Joe Klein of Time Magazine, reciting the anthem of our modern press corps in explaining why he can't be bothered to correct the script Hoekstra fed him.

* * * * *
"It may seem perverse to suggest that, at the very moment the House of Representatives is repudiating his policy in Iraq, President Bush is poised for a political comeback. But don't be astonished if that is the case" --
Dean of the Washington Press Corps David Broder, February 16, 2007.

* * * * *
"Nor do I think that high-profile diplomacy is an appropriate response. We should be responding quietly, killing radical mullahs and iranian (sic) atomic scientists" --
Law Professor Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds, advocating that the U.S. Government begin murdering Iranian scientists instead of attempting diplomacy.


"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged" --
Frank Gaffney in The Washington Times, using a fake Abraham Lincoln quote to argue that anti-war Senators should be punished as traitors.


"Our most basic civil liberty is the right to be kept alive" --
Mitt Romney, invoking the cowardly flagship of the modern GOP in arguing for limitless presidential powers and, with one short sentence, completely repudiating the core, founding American political value as most famously expressed by Patrick Henry.


"What the bill seeks to do is set back basic rights by some 900 years" --
Sen. Arlen Specter on the Military Commissions Act, in a speech he delivered on the Senate floor almost immediately before voting in favor of that bill (that was actually from September, 2006, but I cheated and included it anyway because it's my all-time favorite political quote).

Today's Funny

So true....

Link. (Remember to click on the image to enlarge it.)

Quote Of The Day

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." -- George Washington

Mendicancy

One of Our Leaders' former Treasury secretaries opines or, rather, still spews lies and just plain crap (my comments are interspersed in italics):

The American economy is now threatened by two different but interrelated problems. The first is the declining value of housing, and the second is the seizing up of the credit markets. Together, they pose the risk of a serious economic downturn; some even predict recession.

Isn't a serious downturn a recession? Is there an observable difference?

***

What brought about the current situation? The accumulation in recent years of large pools of excess savings around the globe -- particularly in Asia and the Middle East -- drove interest rates down, making borrowing cheaper. As a result, the world went on a borrowing and buying binge. With cheap money in hand, asset values were bid up, especially for housing. And at the same time interest rates declined, savers began to search for ever higher yields.

Yeah, Goddam foreigners are all to blame. Not, oh, excess funds for speculating here in America, or lying, thieving, greedy lenders abusing ignorant borrowers. No. Foreigners with money. (Whose purchase of T-bills has, well, saved this country's ass financially and, in part, enabled Our Leaders' reckless spending.)

***

We see complementary adjustments in credit markets. Values for asset-backed debt instruments are going down, reflecting the declining prices of the collateral behind those instruments. Risk is being repriced to more realistic levels, spreads have widened and credit has become exceedingly tight.

Some of this is called for and overdue. However, I'm concerned that the pendulum has swung too far the other way, and that today even good credit risks are being frozen out. Credit markets simply are not working well, as evidenced by the widening spread between the London interbank offered rate and the fed-funds rate.

This is a scoop: this is the first I've heard of any significant freezing out of good credit risks. And why should there be? There's still loads of loose cash and rates have been kept reasonably low. Or, simply, what the fuck is this guy talking about?

***

Today, when considering possible responses, the first priority should be to avoid harm. The temptation to try to prop up the economy through dubious spending schemes must be avoided. And with the economy today so fragile, we must avoid increasing taxes for the foreseeable future by rolling back the 2001-2003 tax reductions, especially on the very lending and capital-formation processes that are still frozen. While monetary and fiscal policies are needed to reduce the fallout, they don't get at the root causes of the problem.

Never, ever, rollback a tax cut no matter how reckless, improper, harmful it may be because it is always good for the elite and that, not the well-being of our nation, is what matters.

And there's a lot more....

Scoop! Santa Fights Back!

Link.

Ho Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha

Holiday Greetings

Link.

More Of His Lies

Giuliani has been personally blamed for the deaths of firefighters on September 11, 2001, including by NYFD Deputy Fire Chief James Riches, whose son, also a firefighter, died at Ground Zero. Giuliani is not only accused of providing faulty equipment, but also of ending the search for survivors too early.

"I feel very bad about that," responds Giuliani. "I mean, I feel very bad about the whole situation."

"Myself," he continues, "and all the people that are involved in this have been very hurt by this, and it creates a lot of pain. It creates a lot of suffering. And, if they're angry at me, so be it. I did everything I could--I did everything I could think of doing in that situation to help.

"I think I made mostly the right decisions."

Says Giuliani about the radios in question: "Well, the radios that you're talking about weren't put online for three, four, five years after, so it would have been impossible for me to have those radios ready.

"It took the city two, three more years."

Responds Stephanopoulos, "But they had a malfunction in 1993."

As Think Progress points out, it wasn't impossible for firefighters to have working radios when entering the twin towers, had the no-bid contract with Motorola produced a product that worked properly after the 1993 malfunctions; the faulty replacements were decommissioned in March of 2001, leaving the firefighters using the same radios inside the World Trade Center in 2001 that they had in 1993.

One Think Progress commenter, identifying as "Comrade Rutherford," says that New York City might be continually equipping firefighters with radios that aren't suitable to begin with:

As a amatuer (sic) radio enthusiast I was flabbergasted to learn (back in the day) that the NYFD were on VHF, but the NYPD was on UHF. The higher frequenices (sic) of the police band at 460 MHz can get out of buildings better than VHF, making for more reliable communications from *inside buildings*. The fire dept was on 154 MHz for many, many years (are they still?). This frequency range has larger dead areas inside buidlings (sic) meaning that you have to carefully move around to get your radio into a hot spot to be able to communicate reliably. If you move at all, you lose the signal. Now imagine having to do that while the building is burning around you and the message you need to send is of life or death. Many other cities have long ago moved their emergency comm to 800 MHz, and digital radio is now here. But wasn’t it Giuliani that made a sweet-heart deal with Motorola for the Radios That Didn’t Work?

Link.

Mendicancy

I was going to take the time to parse this for you but it's not worth it. Just keep in mind that the writer is a mediocrity who has succeeded solely because of who his father was and his employer has no real sense of quality. (You know, if circulation holds, then it must be a good product (as opposed to a successful product).)

The Genius That Is Fred Thompson

The man in action. Maybe he got too used to being scripted on "Law & Order" and now, well, just can't think and speak.

Janice Easley's fury over illegal immigration boiled over Saturday as she confronted Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson at the Music Man Square museum.

She said she recalled a film about Mexicans who wanted to take over California and New Mexico. Calling illegal immigrants a taxpayer burden, she wondered whether Americans could march in the streets of Mexico and demand welfare. When Iowans call up the power company, she said, "everything is in Spanish; it's sickening."

"You are so, so right," Thompson responded. English should be the national language, he told the retiree, and immigrants bear some of the blame for the home-loan crisis. "A lot of them couldn't communicate with the people they were getting the mortgage from," he said.

***

In Mason City, he told the audience of several dozen that the 2008 election would come down to beating back attacks on conservative principles.

Those principles are "under assault from a left-wing, big-government, high-taxing, weak-on-national-defense Democratic Party that's just salivating now to get back the reins of power so that they can take us down the road of a welfare state, where the government turns out to be not much more than an agency to transfer money from one group of folks to another," he said.

***

"I've had the opportunity to travel around the world, meet with foreign leaders, both friends and enemies, in places like China and Russia and Afghanistan," he said. He named more places in a soft voice, his clip-on microphone broadcasting loud breaths as he paused after each one: "South America." "Chile." "Ecuador." "Panama." He finished by mentioning Russia a second time.

Link.

More:

Thompson's anti-immigrant rhetoric -- which apparently wasn't limited just to those people who enter the US illegally -- came as the former Tennessee senator and Law & Order star tried to breathe some life into his lackluster campaign. His attempt to come across as the "true conservative," came just days after the virulently anti-immigrant Tom Tancredo withdrew from the presidential race, and it marked a 180-degree switch from his attempt to appeal to Hispanic voters at a Spanish language debate less than three weeks earlier.

A Public Service Announcement

As a prominent child psychologist and the father of two tween girls, I have grappled with the same problem that many parents are facing today: how to talk to your child about Jamie Lynn Spears. While this is an issue that every parent must navigate for him or herself, here are some questions that your child is likely to ask, followed by the correct answers.

How did Jamie Lynn Spears get pregnant?
According to her mom, Jamie Lynn was a good girl who always respected her curfew and girls like that usually don’t get pregnant. So the answer is, no one knows.

Could Kevin Federline have made Jamie Lynn Spears pregnant?
No. This is one of those rare instances when someone got pregnant and Kevin Federline was not involved.

Now that Jamie Lynn is pregnant, will Zoey, the character she plays on Nickelodeon, get pregnant, too?
No. Remember, Jamie Lynn is a real person and Zoey is just a made-up character. Plus, Nickelodeon is owned by an angry old man named Sumner Redstone who doesn’t let people get pregnant. So there is absolutely no way Zoey will get pregnant. Instead, Zoey will get cancelled.

Could Hannah Montana get pregnant?
I thought we already went through this. Hannah Montana isn’t a real person. She’s a character played by Miley Cyrus.

Okay, then could Miley Cyrus get pregnant?
No, because her dad’s always around and he creeps boys out.

Are the girls on Disney’s “High School Musical” pregnant?
No, the girls on Disney’s “High School Musical” are not pregnant. They have been too busy posing for naked pictures on the Internet to get pregnant.

If I pose for naked pictures on the Internet, will that keep me from getting pregnant?
It couldn’t hurt.

Link.

Thought For The Day

Link.

Woman Lives In An Open 24 Hours Wal-Mart For 72 Hours

Link.

Really, How Bad Is Waterboarding?

So much talk of waterboarding, so much controversy. But what is it really? How bad? I wanted to write the definitive thread on waterboarding, settle the issue. Torture, or not?

To determine the answer, I knew I had to try it. I looked at my two small children. Surely, in the interests of science?.....

But alas, my wife had objections.

Perhaps her?

Sadly, she is proficient in Ju Jitsu, and I am unlikely to waterboard her.

That leaves me.


***

Seriously, I determined to give this a try, see how bad it was: Settle the debate authoritatively. Torture, or not?

I figure I would be a good test subject. I am incredibly fit and training for a 100 mile endurance run. The main thing about such an event is ability to tolerate pain. I am good at this. I am trained.

I also have experience with free-diving from my college days. I once held my breath for 4 minutes and two seconds. Once, while training as a lifeguard I swam laps without breathing until I passed out, so that I could know my limits.

To determine whether waterboarding is an acceptable interrogation technique or torture I must research it an then undergo it myself. Once I have done this, Elucidator Diogenes Tomndeb and all the rest of those liberal scum (no offense intended) must accept my now accept my now expert opinion.

So, here's what I would do. First I would google waterboarding to understand the basic concepts than I would try it on myself. First, self inflicted and then, if necessary, inflicted by my wife.(she has no problem torturing me. We've been married almost 15 years.)

These are the results of my research and experience:

The goal of waterboarding is to simulate drowning without the actual drowning or inhalation into the lungs. In order to accomplish this the subject is forced to lie on an inclined plane with his head lower than his lungs and then water is dumped onto his/her face (always keeping the lungs above the "Water line.") This simulates drowning and causes a panic.

There are some advanced techniques that make this more extreme, but that's the basic concept.

Easy enough to duplicate. I have an inclined weight bench and a watering can. No problem. I lie on this and tilt the watercan to pour water on my mouth and nose. Water goes up my nose causing me to gag and choke and splutter, but after a try or two I'm able to suppress my reflex, relax breathe in shallowly and then expel rapidly (shooting out the water) and maintain my composure. This is not too bad. with my diving experience, you would never break me this way. I can't beleive those AL Zarqawi guys were such pussies.

Back to researching the advanced techniques:

The first of these is wet rag in mouth. I try it. Ok, I can handle this too. It makes it a little bit more difficult to maintain control. I didn't realize it, but the first time around I was selectively breathing through either mouth or nose, to help maintain control. The wet rag eliminates the mouth as an option. You have to really concentrate to maintain control, breathing very shallowly on the inhale and not allowing yourself to exhale until you have a good lungfull with which to expel the water in you nose throat and sinuses. Then, you have to inhale slowly but fast enough to pull in a lungful of air before your nose throat and sinuses fill up. Difficult, but doable with some self-control. I can see where this would get very unpleasant if you lost control, but still, not terrible, not torture, per se in my book. It wasn't as bad as my vasectomy or last root canal, and not nearly so bad as the last OP I read by Liberal.

Next up is saran wrap. The idea is that you wrap saran wrap around the mouth in several layers, and poke a hole in the mouth area, and then waterboard away. I didn't reall see how this was an improvement on the rag technique, and so far I would categorize waterboarding as simply unpleasant rather than torture, but I've come this far so I might as well go on.

Now, those of you who know me will know that I am both enamored of my own toughness and prone to hyperbole. The former, I feel that I am justifiably proud of. The latter may be a truth in many cases, but this is the simple fact:

It took me ten minutes to recover my senses once I tried this. I was shuddering in a corner, convinced I narrowly escaped killing myself.

Here's what happened:

The water fills the hole in the saran wrap so that there is either water or vaccum in your mouth. The water pours into your sinuses and throat. You struggle to expel water periodically by building enough pressure in your lungs. With the saran wrap though each time I expelled water, I was able to draw in less air. Finally the lungs can no longer expel water and you begin to draw it up into your respiratory tract.

It seems that there is a point that is hardwired in us. When we draw water into our respiratory tract to this point we are no longer in control. All hell breaks loose. Instinct tells us we are dying.

I have never been more panicked in my whole life. Once your lungs are empty and collapsed and they start to draw fluid it is simply all over. You [b]know[b] you are dead and it's too late. Involuntary and total panic.

There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. It would be like telling you not to blink while I stuck a hot needle in your eye.

At the time my lungs emptied and I began to draw water, I would have sold my children to escape. There was no choice, or chance, and willpower was not involved.

I never felt anything like it, and this was self-inflicted with a watering can, where I was in total control and never in any danger.

And I understood.

Waterboarding gets you to the point where you draw water up your respiratory tract triggering the drowning reflex. Once that happens, it's all over. No question.

Some may go easy without a rag, some may need a rag, some may need saran wrap.

Once you are there it's all over.

I didn't allow anybody else to try it on me. Inconceivable. I know I only got the barest taste of what it's about since I was in control, and not restrained and controlling the flow of water.

But there's no chance. No chance at all.

So, is it torture?

I'll put it this way. If I had the choice of being waterboarded by a third party or having my fingers smashed one at a time by a sledgehammer, I'd take the fingers, no question.

It's horrible, terrible, inhuman torture. I can hardly imagine worse. I'd prefer permanent damage and disability to experiencing it again. I'd give up anything, say anything, do anything.

The Spanish Inquisition knew this. It was one of their favorite methods.

It's torture. No question. Terrible terrible torture. To experience it and understand it and then do it to another human being is to leave the realm of sanity and humanity forever. No question in my mind.

Questions? Doubts?

P.S. Yes, I really did try it.

P.S.S. I understand that I took a shot or two at some other posters, but my hope is that this will be construed as humorous rather than genuinely insulting, and thus acceptable. If any offended parties take genuine issue, my sincere apologies, but I chose targets that I thought would appreciate rather than be offended.

Link.

The Huck's BFF Cannot Recognize Satire And Humor

Chuck Norris thinks this is libelous.

Generosity For Top Executives Of Failing Business

Circuit City tanks, execs get rewarded.

Why To Fear Mitt

Yeah, yeah, we all know that what pols on the campaign trail as they lie and pander their way to victory can't be taken as gospel.

But still....

1. Does the president have inherent powers under the Constitution to conduct surveillance for national security purposes without judicial warrants, regardless of federal statutes?

Intelligence and surveillance have proven to be some of the most effective national security tools we have to protect our nation. Our most basic civil liberty is the right to be kept alive and the President should not hesitate to use every legal tool at his disposal to keep America safe.

2. In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites -- a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?)

A President must always act in the best interests of the United States to protect us against a potential threat, including a nuclear Iran. Naturally, it is always preferable to seek agreement of all – leadership of our government as well as our friends around the world – where those circumstances are available.

3. Does the Constitution empower the president to disregard a congressional statute limiting the deployment of troops -- either by capping the number of troops that may be deployed to a particular country or by setting minimum home-stays between deployments? In other words, is that level of deployment management beyond the constitutional power of Congress to regulate?

The founders created a constitutional system in which the war power was divided between the President and Congress. A President must respect the constitutional design while at the same time remain faithful to commander-in-chief powers and obligations to keep this country safe.

4. Under what circumstances, if any, would you sign a bill into law but also issue a signing statement reserving a constitutional right to bypass the law?

I share the view of many past presidents that signing statements are an important presidential practice.

5. Does the Constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants?

All US citizens are entitled to due process, including at least some type of habeas corpus relief regardless whether they are designated unlawful enemy combatants or not.

6. Does executive privilege cover testimony or documents about decision-making within the executive branch not involving confidential advice communicated to the president himself?

Courts have recognized that there is a valid need for protecting communications among high government officials and those who advise and assist them. Before invoking the privilege, a President should carefully weigh, among other factors, the interest in disclosure and the interest in preserving the confidentiality of deliberations and advice in the Executive Branch. As an institutional matter, the President must also protect the prerogatives of his Office for future presidents.

7. If Congress defines a specific interrogation technique as prohibited under all circumstances, does the president's authority as commander in chief ever permit him to instruct his subordinates to employ that technique despite the statute?

A President should decline to reveal the method and duration of interrogation techniques to be used against high value terrorists who are likely to have counter-interrogation training. This discretion should extend to declining to provide an opinion as to whether Congress may validly limit his power as to the use of a particular technique, especially given Congress’s current plans to try to do exactly that.

8. Under what circumstances, if any, is the president, when operating overseas as commander-in-chief, free to disregard international human rights treaties that the US Senate has ratified?

The President must carry out all of his duties in a manner consistent with the rule of law, whether it is our Constitution or valid international agreements, so long as they do not impinge upon the President’s constitutional authority.

9. Do you agree or disagree with the statement made by former Attorney General Gonzales in January 2007 that nothing in the Constitution confers an affirmative right to habeas corpus, separate from any statutory habeas rights Congress might grant or take away?

The availability and limitation of habeas corpus is governed by current federal statutory law and the Suspension Clause of the US Constitution, Article I, § 9, cl. 2.

10. Is there any executive power the Bush administration has claimed or exercised that you think is unconstitutional? Anything you think is simply a bad idea?

The Bush Administration has kept the American people safe since 9/11. The Administration’s strong view on executive power may well have contributed to that fact.

11. Who are your campaign's advisers for legal issues?

The campaign receives legal advice from members of the Romney for President Advisory Committee on the Constitution and the Courts, which is comprised of some of our nation’s top constitutional scholars and legal experts.

12. Do you think it is important for all would-be presidents to answer questions like these before voters decide which one to entrust with the powers of the presidency? What would you say about any rival candidate who refuses to answer such questions?

These are important questions that each candidate for President should carefully consider with the benefit of advice from legal, diplomatic, and military experts.

Link.

And an analysis:

As for the Republicans:

Senator McCain denies that the President has the constitutional power to violate the torture act, or FISA, or treaties, but in response to the question about a statute limiting troop deployment, he states that "it's beyond Congress's authority to micromanage wars." (On the other hand, he states categorically (and mistakenly) that "I don't think the president has the right to disobey any law," so his views on this question remain a bit uncertain.) McCain also denies that the President has the constitutional power to unilaterally bomb Iran, absent an imminent threat. Surprisingly (and in my view unfortunately), McCain states that he would not issue any signing statements.

Ron Paul, true to his convictions, is libertarian across the board, which in this case means skeptical of executive power.

Romney? Let's put it this way: If you've liked Dick Cheney and David Addington, you're gonna love Mitt Romney.

Candidates Giuliani, Huckabee and Thompson refused to respond to the questionaire....

And Greenwald has his own analysis.

Half Of Tom Tomorrow's Year In Review

Link. (Click on image for larger, nigh legible version.)

With Allies Like These....

Amongst Our Leaders' failures, and in great part due to their famous detachment from reality, is that they get played by our allies a lot.

After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money. The strategy to improve the Pakistani military, they said, needs to be completely revamped.

In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not Al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs.

[more for those registered with the Times]

Christmas Eve Thought

Subprime mess. And let's say subprime borrowers took out equity for the consumer spending that keeps our awesome economy running. (You know, as in a consumer economy.) And then a big bunch of the subprimes foreclose or otherwise go on the market unexpectedly, greatly reducing property values. So what does that do to the national (even global) economy?

Exactly.

Thank God George W. Bush is president. See why here.

Awww, Ain't This Cute?!?

Liberman doesn't just endorse McCain, he shows his love, too!

How The Rightist World Works

Like one big incestuous circle-jerk (figuratively speaking).

It was the first day of November and Coleman Stipanovich's world was coming undone. Florida school districts and towns had begun pulling their cash out of the $26 billion money market fund he supervised, after they learned it held subprime-tainted debt.

Stipanovich, who earned $180,214 in 2006 as executive director of the State Board of Administration, was in New York in confidential meetings with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds. Lehman was proposing ways to help the state manage the risk of its debt investments, according to a letter the bank sent to Stipanovich after the meeting.

What Stipanovich, 58, hadn't told his boss, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, was that Lehman Brothers was the same firm that had sold the state fund $842 million of mortgage- backed debt in July and August. Those securities defaulted within four months, and totaled more failing debt than any other bank sold the state, Florida records show. ``At the time, I never knew it was Lehman Brothers that actually sold us these investments,'' Sink says.

Sink also was unaware that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who incorporated Jeb Bush & Associates in February 2007, a month after completing his second term, had been hired as a consultant to Lehman Brothers in June. Bush is the brother of President George W. Bush.

`Do Something Quickly'

In November, school districts and local agencies that kept their cash in the state pool rushed to withdraw $12 billion, or 46 percent, of the money in the fund. On Nov. 29, the state froze the fund to stop all withdrawals. ``If we don't do something quickly, we're not going to have an investment pool,'' Stipanovich told the board that day.

Until November, the Florida pool was the largest public money market fund in the U.S. It held cash for about 1,000 school districts, towns and local agencies in Florida.

Stipanovich resigned on Dec. 4. He declined to comment.

Florida CFO Sink is riled up about more than Stipanovich. She says JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Lehman Brothers were offloading tainted debt on Florida and other states at a time when those assets were plummeting in value.

The subprime meltdown made front-page news in June, when Bear Stearns Cos. disclosed that two of its hedge funds were collapsing because they were stuffed with subprime collateral. During the next two months, Wall Street firms were quietly peddling mortgage-backed securities to the states.

And the states, eager for higher returns, were buying them.

`It Looks Questionable'

``Lehman and the other big players in the market decided they didn't like this stuff in their own accounts,'' Sink says. ``Where did they drop it and who did they dump it to? It looks questionable to me.''

Joseph Mason, a former U.S. Treasury official and now a finance professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, says Wall Street had few takers for its subprime-tainted debt. ``When they couldn't sell it to more-sophisticated investors, they found less-sophisticated investors like local government investment pools,'' he says.

At the same time, Lehman Brothers served its shareholders well in 2007, says Bruce Foerster, president of Miami-based corporate financial adviser South Beach Capital Markets. On Dec. 13, the bank reported it had limited a fourth-quarter writedown of $2.2 billion tied to residential mortgages with $2 billion it made on hedges.

The board of Lehman, whose shares are down 21.2 percent this year, gave Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld a $35 million stock award for record income in 2007.. ``What's not to like about a record year?'' Foerster says.

`We Are Disappointed'

Lehman Brothers spokeswoman Kerrie Cohen says the bank had only good intentions in its sales to Florida. ``The firm's number one priority is to deliver first-rate products to our clients,'' she says. ``We are disappointed when any security that is purchased by a client underperforms expectations.''

JPMorgan Chase spokesman Joseph Evangelisti declined to comment for this story.

Florida first revealed that close to $1 billion of its money market fund investments had been downgraded by credit rating companies on Nov. 1, after a month of inquiries by Bloomberg News, which published a story on the pool on Nov. 14.

States and counties run pools similar to money market funds to hold cash for school districts and local agencies. Most states require fund managers to make only short-term investments in debt such as U.S. Treasuries, certificates of deposit and corporate commercial paper, or short-term loans.

Strayed From Guidelines

Florida and other states have strayed from those guidelines in recent years, buying commercial paper from collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, and structured investment vehicles, or SIVs. These investments are bundles of securitized loans, often loaded with subprime debt, which is why they offer higher returns than Treasuries.

They also hold greater risk of default. Banks and other firms create these ``structured finance'' packages and put them into a company, usually registered offshore.

Harvey Pitt, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2001 to 2003, says state fund managers should have been savvier. ``All of this could, and should, have been avoided by careful due diligence, constant reassessment of risk and paying close attention to market trends,'' he says.

Pool investors like the Jefferson County School District in Florida, which kept more than $4 million of cash in the state fund, were left scrambling to pay their teachers.

`Stolen' From Taxpayers

Hal Wilson, the school board's chief financial officer, stopped checks to vendors to ensure the district's 220 employees would be able to cash their paychecks. ``It has been stolen from our local taxpayers because we entrusted their money with the state and our elected officials assured us it was safe,'' Wilson says.

On Nov. 30, state officials hired New York-based investment management firm BlackRock Inc. to study the fund's holdings and recommend a plan. On Dec. 4, BlackRock reported that about $2 billion of the pool's holdings were in default or had significant credit risk.

It recommended that the state put 86 percent of its remaining $14 billion of assets that had no risk of loss or default in what it called Fund A. The remaining 14 percent of distressed assets would go into Fund B and stay frozen indefinitely.

Two days later, the state allowed limited withdrawals from Fund A. Local districts withdrew $1.8 billion from the pool in the first three days after the state lifted the freeze.

Lehman Brothers Role

Sink, 59, who sits on a three-member board overseeing the Florida pool, says she didn't learn until Nov. 28 that New York- based Lehman Brothers had sold Florida most of its now default- rated commercial paper.

Governor Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum, who are also on the board, declined to comment.

On Dec. 12, CFO Sink asked the audit committee of the State Board of Administration to determine who sold the pool the assets now in Fund B, whether any rules were broken and if managers made adequate disclosure once the fund's holdings had been downgraded.

Sink is upset that when Stipanovich went to New York on Nov. 1 to meet with Lehman Brothers, she had believed the bank was an independent adviser to the state.

``If there's anything that raises my hackles, it's when the executive director said he was relying on Lehman Brothers' advice, when I had suggested that we might need an independent adviser to help us figure out how to deal with these issues,'' Sink says.

`Significant' Risk

The state's flirtation with the mortgage meltdown began in February 2007 when the fund bought $400 million of one-year Countrywide Bank certificates of deposit from the nation's then largest mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial Corp. The CDs yielded 5.35 percent at the time. BlackRock later quarantined the Countrywide CDs into Fund B because of their ``significant'' credit risk.

Two years ago, Florida's pool held safer debt investments. On Sept. 30, 2005, 25 percent of the pool was invested in U.S. Treasuries and debt issued by U.S. agencies, the safest and most liquid debt sold. The rest was in short-term corporate commercial paper. Interest rates were low, and fund managers for about 100 such pools in the U.S. wanted higher yields.

Florida was more aggressive than most states. In October, the Florida pool had the highest return of any public fund in the U.S., with a return of 5.63 percent. Chasing higher yields not only meant potentially higher returns for taxpayers; it could also mean bonuses for Stipanovich and his colleagues.

`An Outstanding Individual'

The state gave Stipanovich and pool manager Michael Lombardi financial incentives of up to 8 percent of their annual salaries if they could increase returns for the state's pension fund.

Lombardi bought many of the same tainted debt investments that had helped raise the pension fund returns for the state's money market pool, state records show. Pension funds across the U.S. offer managers bonuses.

Stipanovich, who ran the State Board of Administration which manages $184 billion, was hired in 2000. Two of his three personal references came from then-Governor Bush's top aides.

``An outstanding individual capable of significant contributions to the board,'' Sally Bradshaw, Bush's chief of staff, wrote about Stipanovich.

After serving as an infantryman in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War in 1969 and 1970, Stipanovich, a Michigan State graduate, became a stockbroker and then a branch manager at Paine Webber & Co.'s Tampa office in 1986.

`Difficult Situations'

In August 1992, he settled a complaint filed against him by Florida's Division of Securities and Investor Protection. The agency found that, as a Paine Webber branch office manager, he failed to supervise a broker who sold unsuitable, money-losing investments to two retired cigar-factory workers.

One was a 73-year-old man, who was living in subsidized housing with his blind sister-in-law, who was 74. Paine Webber paid $5,000 in investigative costs to the state and $12,624 to the victims.

Stipanovich left Paine Webber five months later to open his own investment company, CoLee Inc. It was dissolved in 2000 after Florida hired him. The following year, he attended a two- day Harvard University seminar called, ``Dealing With Difficult People and Difficult Situations.''

The state promoted Stipanovich to executive director in 2002. In that role, he oversaw management of Florida's pension fund and investment pool. He drew few headlines until 2007. As the subprime crisis unfolded around the world, Stipanovich and Lombardi increased their holdings of high-risk debt.

They steadily reduced holdings of government securities, in favor of higher-yielding -- and riskier -- commercial paper, records show.

Less Treasuries in Fund

In February 2007, London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank by market value, reported it had losses of $1.8 billion more than expected on its U.S. subprime lending. In the same month, Lombardi bought the $400 million in Countrywide CDs.

By March, the fund's holdings of government bonds had shriveled to less than 2 percent of its holdings. ``As you may have noticed, there are less U.S. Treasury and agency securities than before,'' Lombardi wrote in a quarterly newsletter to investors. ``By focusing on maturities three months and in, we can comfortably accept more credit risk.''

In the same month, bad loans soared at New Century Financial Corp., then the second-largest U.S. subprime lender. Its shares plummeted 93 percent that month as it ran out of cash. On March 15, Lombardi had bought another $400 million in Countrywide CDs.

Calabasas, California-based Countrywide shares plunged 75 percent in 2007 through Dec. 12, when shares traded at $10.53. On Aug. 16, Moody's Investors Service had dropped Countrywide's rating three steps to Baa3, one level above junk, from A3.

`Leaking at The Seams'

Lombardi, 50, is a chartered financial analyst with a Masters of Business Administration degree from Fordham University in New York. He managed a $250 million short-term fund for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1988 to 1997 in the World Trade Center before going to Florida. He declined to comment.

``Media headlines scream rising delinquencies and falling housing prices,'' Lombardi wrote in the pool's June newsletter. ``The housing market contagion is leaking at the seams.''

On June 14, Bear Stearns announced it would liquidate two of its hedge funds, holding more than $4 billion in assets, because their subprime holdings were collapsing. The news roiled global financial markets. Eleven days later, Lombardi took on even more risk for the pool, buying another $150 million of one- year Countrywide CDs, which were then yielding 5.33 percent.

At about the same time, Bush and his new company won a consulting contract from Lehman Brothers, according to Lehman spokesman Randall Whitestone, who declined to say how much Bush is being paid.

Jeb Bush

On July 2, Lehman Brothers sold Lombardi $250 million of one-month commercial paper from a structured finance company called KKR Atlantic Funding Trust yielding 5.37 percent, state records show. KKR Atlantic was rated A-1+ by Standard & Poor's and Prime-1 by Moody's.

It matured, and on Aug. 2, Lehman Brothers sold Lombardi $200 million of one-month KKR Atlantic paper yielding 5.53 percent. It was downgraded to default by Fitch Ratings on Oct. 8, and Not Prime, or junk, by Moody's on Oct. 29.

From July 3 to July 9, Lehman Brothers sold the pool $153 million of commercial paper from another structured finance company called Ottimo Funding yielding 5.36-5.38 percent.

Lehman Brothers spokeswoman Cohen says there's no link between Bush and Lehman's sale of debt to Florida. ``Bush is a member of the Lehman Brothers private equity advisory board and his company has been retained by the firm for consulting and advisory services,'' she says. The former governor declined to comment.

`A Clear Conflict'

Craig Holman, of Washington-based nonprofit public interest group Public Citizen, disputes Lehman Brothers' view. ``That defies credibility,'' says Holman, who lobbies for ethics in government. ``It's a clear conflict of interest. Bush is a consultant to the company selling bad investments to the same agency on which he served as a trustee until January.''

On July 10, Moody's cut ratings on $5.2 billion of bonds backed by subprime mortgages. Standard & Poor's said that day it might slash ratings on $7 billion of subprime-backed debt.

From July 26 to Aug. 2, Lehman Brothers sold the pool $489 million of one-month KKR Pacific Funding Trust paper, state records show. With each new purchase, KKR Pacific offered a higher interest rate. On July 26, KKR Pacific paid 5.38 percent; on July 27, 5.39 percent; on Aug. 1, 5.46 percent; and on Aug. 2, 5.65 percent.

`A Broader Dislocation'

On July 27, JPMorgan Chase sold the pool $175 million in commercial paper from an SIV called Axon Financial Funding maturing on April 25, 2008, and $31 million of Ottimo, yielding 5.4 percent, state records show. Axon was rated Prime-1 by Moody's, A-1+ by S&P and F1+ by Fitch. The yield was 5.34 percent.

Also that month, Lombardi bought $1.8 billion of commercial paper issued by CDOs, including $734 million managed by Bear Stearns.

On. Aug. 15, less than three weeks after the pool's purchases, Fitch slashed KKR Atlantic and KKR Pacific to B, or junk, from F1+, citing a decline in value of the underlying residential mortgage-backed securities.

``Unfortunately the performance of Ottimo, KKR Atlantic and KKR Pacific, which are supported entirely by AAA securities, are reflective of a broader dislocation in the mortgage- and asset- backed commercial paper markets,'' says Lehman's Cohen.

Oversight Committee

On Aug. 8, Lombardi bought $100 million of Countrywide six- month CDs with a yield of 5.45 percent. The pool held $830 million of Countrywide debt on Aug. 15, when a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst raised the possibility of bankruptcy for the company.

A day later, Countrywide borrowed the entire $11.5 billion available in its bank credit lines. On the same day, Moody's downgraded Countrywide to one step above junk.

After the downgrade, Countrywide's debt no longer met the pool's minimum credit quality requirements. The pool's operating procedures require a swift meeting of its investment oversight committee when any holding drops below acceptable risk levels.

Countrywide's downgrade, and the decision to continue holding the debt, wasn't communicated to the pool trustees. Sink says it should have been. ``Absolutely,'' she says. ``That's why the executive director isn't the executive director anymore.''

Justification Memo

The committee was composed of Lombardi's boss Robert Smith, senior investment officer for fixed income; Lisa Collins, the compliance officer; and Lombardi. On Aug. 22, the committee met and approved a ``justification'' memo to keep the debt.

``Our recommendation is to continue to hold the paper until maturity,'' the document says. ``Naturally, we will continue to monitor the credit markets to take advantage of any sale opportunities.''

That meeting was the first in a series of decisions the state made to hold a total of more than $1.7 billion in debt that had either been downgraded below state standards or had defaulted, records show.

On Aug. 21, Sink's office asked Stipanovich if the pool's CDOs faced subprime risk. ``None of these CDOs are backed by subprime mortgage loans,'' Stipanovich wrote in an e-mail reply the next day.

State records show the pool owned $234 million of paper issued by Buckingham CDO III on that date, holding 40 percent subprime collateral. ``I think we were asking a lot of the right questions,'' Sink says. ``We just weren't getting the right answers back.''

No Votes, No Records

From August to October, the committee decided to keep five debt holdings that had been downgraded or had defaulted. In late October, the board's investment oversight committee allowed the pool to keep a total of $532 million in downgraded commercial paper from KKR Atlantic and KKR Pacific.

The debt of both had been lowered to D for default by Fitch, after they had been downgraded to B, or junk, from F1+ two months earlier.

The committee meetings to hold the spiraling debt had no agendas, took no votes and kept no records of the sessions, says Linda Lettera, general counsel of the state board. It went through the same process each time one of the pool's holdings was downgraded below its minimum standards.

``That's just not the way you do business,'' Sink says. ``The way business is conducted over there is going to be very different going forward.''

On Sept. 12, Lombardi wrote a memo to compliance officer Collins, saying, ``All asset-backed commercial paper has been tainted with the sub-prime mortgage troubles.''

Stipanovich, in an update to the pool's trustees on Oct. 15, said the pool has no direct exposure to subprime mortgages and buys only asset-backed commercial paper from 150-200 approved programs. He described negotiations with KKR Atlantic, KKR Pacific and Ottimo Funding to extend the time of commercial paper that couldn't be repaid.

Downgrade Disclosed

On Nov. 1, the pool's third-quarter newsletter revealed the first sign of potential losses to the pool's participants. It said that 3.4 percent of its holdings, including Axon, KKR Atlantic and KKR Pacific, were downgraded below the pool's acceptable risk levels.

It also disclosed ownership of $440 million of Harrier Finance Funding, a second SIV. ``No one can consistently predict the future course of the financial markets and residential mortgage default rates, but credit markets are showing some signs of gradually recovering,'' the newsletter said. It omitted mention of the $650 million of downgraded Countrywide CDs.

Stan O'Neal Ousted

Banks had written down more than $20 billion in subprime holdings by Nov. 1. In October, Merrill Lynch had reported a loss of $2.24 billion, the largest in its 93-year history. On Oct. 30, Merrill ousted Stan O'Neal as its chief executive officer.

The day after O'Neal was fired, Stipanovich was in New York, for the confidential meeting with Lehman Brothers. In a presentation at the Nov. 1 meeting, Lehman Brothers included a graphic titled ``Potential Opportunities to Explore.''

It suggested that Florida could buy more structured finance commercial paper from Lehman Brothers for the state pension fund. ``Florida is very well funded relative to its peer group,'' the graphic said.

Back in Florida four days later, the State Board of Administration determined that 7.2 percent or $3.6 billion of its then $50 billion of short-term investments, which includes the investment pool, were on credit watch for possible downgrades.

`Build Our Relationship'

In the first two weeks of November, local districts had withdrawn $2 billion from the pool, records show.

On Nov. 12, Lehman executive Marty Klein sent Stipanovich an e-mail. ``On behalf of my colleagues at Lehman Brothers, I would like to thank you for your time at our recent lunch,'' Klein wrote. ``We'd like very much to continue to build our relationship with the Florida State Board of Administration. Given our broad capabilities, we think we can be helpful on several fronts.''

On Nov. 14, the state board held a public meeting to discuss all of its investments, including the pool for local districts and the pension fund. ``The SBA's bond and money market investments have maintained high overall credit ratings,'' Stipanovich said. ``The only disappointment that we've been dealing with is the credit downgrades.''

He said the downgrades included 4.7 percent or $2.28 billion of the board's total $50 billion of short-term debt holdings.

`I Feel Very Good'

``Most importantly, I want to emphasize that no client has ever lost money in the SBA's short-term fixed-income investment program, and we remain confident that our portfolios in this program will meet their objectives,'' Stipanovich said. ``I feel very good about our situation.''

Governor Crist offered reassuring words for Stipanovich. ``It's always easier to be a Monday morning quarterback,'' he said. ``We all know that. But I just want to thank you for your diligence and for your staff's work. We have confidence in you. Sometimes these things do get blown out and sensationalized.''

In the next two weeks, the credit downgrades and defaults of pool debt holdings overtook the positive spin Stepanovich had given the governor and the pool's trustees. Local agencies withdrew $10 billion more from the pool, until the state froze the fund on Nov. 29.

That's when Stipanovich officially turned in his resignation. State officials selected BlackRock to manage the pool the next day.

For those running the Florida pool, the best hope is that the audit committee can sort out what went wrong and restore the fund's credibility and financial stability. If the committee doesn't, the state might have no choice other than shutting the pool down.

Link.

Scoop! And Now The Blogosphere Shall Crack And Shatter!

A Little Idiocy From the Huck

Here.

There's A Reason Not Everyone Rises To The Top....

Every car guy loves Bob Lutz. He's the king of the car guys because he knows and loves cars and is just damn cool.

However, when it comes to politics, which is part of the portfolio, as it were, of a first line CEO, he's pretty much a complete shithead.

A love-letter to Lutz from Jerry Flint, who has a hard-on for him:

While in Detroit, I met with Robert Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors and product czar. While many of the changes that the outspoken but knowledgeable Lutz helped implement have yet to trickle down to GM's quarterly financial statements, GM's newest vehicles are winning widespread praise across the automotive press.

The 6-foot, two-and-a-half inches tall, broad-shouldered, silver-haired--and maybe the handsomest senior citizen around--Lutz was willing to talk about GM's new models, but energy prices, fuel efficiency and new technologies were foremost on his agenda.

Lutz started by expressing his concerns about the 35 miles per gallon mandate working through the Congress. "The public has been led to believe that all this will be free, that there little tweaking we need to do. Tweak the transmissions a little bit, fiddle around with the fuel injection a little bit, and we'll easily get 35 miles per gallon," he says. "Well, I am here to tell you that without throwing thousands of dollars of expensive technology into vehicles we will not get to a 35 mpg fleet average."

Most industry executives publicly support the 35 miles per gallon mandate for 2020, but probably because they do not want to seem anti-green. Lutz, on the other hand, is not what anyone calls politically correct. In fact, he has a jaundiced view of any type of mileage regulation. "It cuts what people spend on gasoline, and what happens? The inevitable outcome is that people either drive more or buy larger vehicles."

Detroit executives have long complained that thanks to mileage mandates, they end up building cars they cannot sell. What would Lutz favor in lieu of mileage standards? He has said in the past that the industry prefers taxes, as in other countries, that push up the price of gasoline, so that customers want to buy fuel-stingy vehicles. Members of Congress, always worried about re-election, have never endorsed such taxes.

Trucks present an even greater problem. "No one knows how to get trucks, which are heavier than cars, to 35," he says. GM has a new "two-mode" hybrid system that it is starting to put on its large sport utility vehicles, but the cost is enormous. This reporter asked if the additional expense is as much as $10,000. "Well, at least, and we're not selling it for that," Lutz claims.

"Even with that, we get a full-sized [Chevy] Tahoe sport utility to 22 miles per gallon, which is 50% to 60% better than anyone else, but is still only 22. So where are we going to get the other 13 [mpg]?

"We don't have a clue, and throwing another 10,000 bucks at it isn't going to do it either. So yeah, it's easy to pass laws."

Lutz, once a Marine fighter pilot, says he does not give up, but he adds that he wishes lawmakers would listen to the industry occasionally. "You can say in the future we downsize, and the Chevy HHR [a compact wagon] becomes the new Suburban [Chevrolet's largest SUV]. Now, what do you do when you want to tow a horse trailer? Work with miniature horses?"

It is not that Lutz does not favor new fuel-saving technologies. He is a big backer of the hybrid electric car that GM is developing, and has staked his reputation on it. The idea is a battery pack that can provide all the power for a range of 40 to 50 miles, and when that runs out, a small engine powers a generator to create more electricity to run the car. Drivers of such vehicles can also recharge the batteries at home. GM's current schedule calls for production in late 2010 or early 2011.

"It probably won't be a flawless launch," Lutz warns. Interpretation: Expect delays and possible teething problems.

On a scale of 1 to 10, he says his confidence level is a 9.5 that GM can build the Chevy Volt, the name of this hybrid electric car. The production date is another matter; Lutz's confidence drops to a 5.5. "We're holding people's feet to the fire for the very end of 2010 into 2011. But that can slip, depending on how the development goes."

The biggest problem with the Volt is developing the lithium ion battery system, which must pass several development hurdles before the company can proceed with software and other new and complicated systems for such a car. Other carmakers are not convinced lithium ion batteries will be ready so quickly. Lutz says the GM team is using a different battery chemistry from the one that caused problems--particularly heat output and risk of fire. He tells me that he is encouraged by the initial tests of the battery packs that GM plans to use.

Lutz, who turn 76 next February, is Detroit's most credible executive. He's not afraid to say what he thinks, he doesn't think much of global warming, and he's not worried about his career path.

Second, he knows the business. He headed sales for BMW in Europe, moved to Ford Motor, and eventually was a Ford executive vice president and headed its European operations. He then was president of Chrysler and led the last product revival there, driving dramatic designs like his PT Cruiser, which has had more than 1 million sales to date.

Lutz came out of retirement to work for GM, seized control of the product process and led the revival. Car and Driver magazine just listed three GM cars on its "10 best" list, and who can remember the last time that happened? Motor Trend magazine made a Cadillac its "Car of the Year" while also praising the new Chevrolet Malibu. Even Consumer Reports people say good things about GM cars.

None of this means that Lutz is always right. He has had his mistakes--a Cadillac made from a Saab in Europe and the Pontiac GTO from Australia are a couple of examples. Even so, those poorly received products do not dim the positive change at GM.

Perhaps the most important influence that Lutz has had at GM has been his effort at driving the globalization of GM's product development process. This effort will be either his greatest success or his greatest mistake.

Like all wingnuts, he has to beat the facts to death, etc., to make his point. In no particular order:

SUVs don't have to get 35 mph to enable a company to hit the mileage target. It's a company-wide average.

A cooling market for over-sized SUVs will help raise a company's average. (SUV sales blazed fro, loose money and killer lease deals. OTOH, the chicken's coming home to roost as a lot of owners realize they neither need nor enjoy an SUV nor are happy to pay for crap mileage.)

More importantly, a lot of weight-saving materials are on the cusp of becoming affordable.

And ditto new technologies. Mybe Lutz can look under the hood of his company's new Cadillac CTS for a clue.

And, maybe worse, the whole piece is inane because the battle is essentially over.

And apparently Flint's readers don't buy Lutz's shit.

Bad Karma For Big Bidness; Getting Killed By Getting What It Wanted

Atrios:

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Washington Mutual Inc. got what it wanted in 2005: A revised bankruptcy code that no longer lets people walk away from credit card bills.

The largest U.S. savings and loan didn't count on a housing recession. The new bankruptcy laws are helping drive foreclosures to a record as homeowners default on mortgages and struggle to pay credit card debts that might have been wiped out under the old code, said Jay Westbrook, a professor of business law at the University of Texas Law School in Austin and a former adviser to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

``Be careful what you wish for,'' Westbrook said. ``They wanted to make sure that people kept paying their credit cards, and what they're getting is more foreclosures.''

As I wrote at the time I'm not quite sure that this article really proves the point that the Bankruptcy Bill is fully responsible for this, though the more I think about it the more it makes sense to me. If there was still a decent route to sensible bankrtupcy terms, people would prioritize the house over the credit cards. As it stands, it makes sense to walk away from the house and keep the credit cards.

The karma gods are laughing.

Semi-Correction: Mitt Walked With MLK But Still Isn't Quite Sure

Hey, Mitt, does this help you remember? Or are you just trying to win votes by appearing to be as stupid as Beloved Leader?

TPM:

It's looking like Mitt Romney might have been judged too quickly on the Martin Luther King business. Two witnesses have now come forward to The Politico, insisting that they saw the late Gov. George Romney (R-MI) make a surprise appearance alongside King in 1963.

The campaign has also posted a collection of citations — including a contemporary account from the Detroit Free Press — attesting that it happened.

There's one lingering question, though: If the facts do vindicate Mitt Romney on this one — and at first glance, this looks legit — why did he handle it so awkwardly and ineptly right off the bat? Why all the parsing about what the word "saw" meant, and the business about "march with" being figurative?

(Emphasis added.)

Great News For Gays From Matt Drudge!

Gay men: Can't surf porn sites at work? The workplace-friendly Drudge Report provides porn for you! No good rightwing employer is going to be pissed at an employee's surfing The Drudge Report! And please note that this shot is for real! And don't forget to click on the image to se it, wll, nice and big! Link.

Beloved Leader: On The Wrong Side Of The War Against Xmas!

Link.

Truth From Bernie

Any contribution you make to the Trust will be treated as a gift to Mr. Kerik to be used at his discretion.

Link.

Speechless

Who Let The Scumbags Out? Jesus' BFF, The Huck!

Well a supporter's freedom is always more important than public safety.

It took a jury less than 15 minutes to convict Eugene Fields of driving while intoxicated, his fourth such conviction in less than five years. Mr. Fields, whose pickup crashed after he drank 12 beers, received the maximum sentence, six years in prison.

But the same week he arrived at a state prison in 2003, Mr. Fields, a wealthy developer and major donor to the Arkansas Republican Party, asked Gov. Mike Huckabee to commute his sentence. On his application, Mr. Fields wrote that his conviction was “seriously affecting my ability to carry on my efforts to help unfortunate children.”

The local prosecutor and sheriff each strongly objected, but Mr. Fields had a powerful ally behind the scenes. Richard Bearden, a former executive director of the state’s Republican Party with close ties to the Huckabee administration, pressed the governor’s office to free Mr. Fields.

“He called me a couple of times about it,” Cory Cox, the Huckabee aide in charge of clemency matters, disclosed in an interview. “He was somebody that was clearly on Fields’s side on this.”

On Feb. 19, 2004, Mr. Huckabee announced his intention to grant Mr. Fields clemency. The announcement led to a legally required period for public comment, and among those who weighed in was the Arkansas office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In a politely worded letter to the governor, Teresa Belew, MADD’s local executive director, pointed out that Mr. Fields had a record of “ignoring second chances.” She urged Mr. Huckabee not to give Mr. Fields another break.

Mr. Huckabee did not welcome MADD’s recommendation.

Days later, in a letter that he demanded be kept confidential, Mr. Huckabee sharply criticized Ms. Belew for going public with criticism about the Fields case. “I cannot understand why you sent the letter to news organizations,” he wrote. He suggested that MADD was simply trying to fan “the flames of controversy that have been stirred in this case by the unusual curiosity of certain media members.”

He also had a more political score to settle. It concerned his wife, Janet Huckabee, who in 2002 lost her campaign to unseat Arkansas’s incumbent secretary of state, Charlie Daniels.

“You’ll further have to help me understand,” he wrote to Ms. Belew, “why you have been so public with this letter when during the last campaign season, MADD refrained from public comment regarding my wife’s opponent, a public official with several D.W.I.’s, one of which was in a state-owned car.”

Mr. Huckabee’s letter, obtained by The New York Times, is one of several examples of how Mr. Huckabee bristled at public criticism of his clemency decisions.

Similarly, when the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association made public a letter arguing against clemency for a rapist, Wayne Dumond, Mr. Huckabee in a subsequent meeting with the group angrily warned that he would not be receptive to their legislative priorities if they persisted in going public with criticism, prosecutors at the meeting recalled.

The Fields case also underscores the degree to which personal and political connections sometimes played an important role in how Mr. Huckabee used his powers of clemency. Some who received clemency were recommended by Baptist preachers who had long supported Mr. Huckabee. A few had worked as trustees in the governor’s mansion. Others, like Mr. Fields, were championed by Mr. Huckabee’s political allies.

“When you have somebody that you trust and is your friend and is putting their neck out there and is asking you to do something, versus judges and prosecutors who want to look tough on crime, that would have more of an impact with him,” Mr. Cox said.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Huckabee, Charmaine Yoest, said that Mr. Fields’s political donations and connections played no role in his clemency. She said the governor simply made a “tough call” — one that the Arkansas Parole Board supported — to release a model inmate at a time when the state’s prisons were overcrowded. Mr. Fields did not respond to several telephone messages left at his home. Mr. Bearden also did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages left at his office.

About two years after Mr. Fields’s sentence was cut to 11 months, he was arrested again for D.W.I.

According to the police report, Mr. Fields’s Chevy truck crossed the center line of Highway 59 in Barling, Ark., directly into the path of an oncoming police car, which he missed. Mr. Fields stumbled out of his truck, reeking of alcohol, when he was pulled over.

His blood-alcohol level measured 0.18, more than twice the legal limit. He paid a $300 fine and is on parole.

Link.

The Progress We're Bringing Iraq

I'm sure the bases will be a real shot for the economy but no one wants to point that out as progress....

Raw Story:

While violence is slowly subsiding in parts of Iraq, living conditions are still deplorable. According to a new U.N. Children's Fund estimate, two million children in Iraq face the “unrelenting threats of poor nutrition, disease and no school.”

“Iraqi children were frequently caught in the crossfire of the conflict this year, with hundreds losing their lives or injured by violence,” the agency said. “Many more had the main wage-earner in their family kidnapped or killed.”

UNICEF determined that only 28 percent of Iraqi 17-year-olds completed their final school exams this year. As more families sought shelter in safer Iraqi regions or other countries, an average of 25,000 children per month fled their homes this year.

Security concerns and mass displacement have made it difficult to raise funds and deliver needed aid. UNICEF only received $40 million towards its $144 million appeal for Iraq this year, spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told a news briefing in Geneva. But the U.N. Children's Fund thinks there is a window of opportunity for more aid to reach Iraqi children in 2008.

"Iraqi children are the foundation for their country's recovery,” said Roger Wright, UNICEF's special representative for Iraq. “We continue to owe them our very best in 2008 and beyond.”

A BBC clip details this depravity through the stories of two teenage boys. The first is a 13-year old whose growth was stunted by poverty. Instead of attending school, he sells cans of oil on the black market, and has little ambition. The second survived a bombing, but was badly wounded. "This is a glass eye," he says. "I can't see with it. There's still shrapnel in my heart and I have wounds caused by shrapnel all over my body."

More here.

And don't recall whether I ran this piece so in lieu of possible repetition, just the link: We're doomed and why. (Very short version: the massive impotence of our puppets. My opinion: democracy ain't for everyone and here's one place we're it cannot bring any good, at least til tribalism becomes a thing of the past.)

And what's happening there right now:

Iraq's Shiite-led government declared Saturday that after restive areas are calmed, it will disband Sunni groups battling Islamic extremists because it does not want them to become a separate military force.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel targets, the military said, in the third confirmed cross-border offensive by Turkish forces in less than a week.

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