Author: Matthew G. Saroff

Bush to Renominate War Criminal to DoJ Position

No Comments

Stephen J. Bradbury wrote the memoranda that authorized torture, and so the Senate has refused to confirm, but George W. Bush, in a fit of pique I guess, has decided that there are not enough war criminals in the Department of Justice, so he’s sending him back again.

If there is a level of lawlessnesses that demands impeachment, it was reached some time ago, and by not addressing this with an investigation, the Congress is ignoring their constitutional responsibility.

NOT ON THE TABLE! NOT ON THE TABLE!

Israel Moving Toward Full Disengagement From Gaza

No Comments

“Total disengagement” means no electricity, no fuel, no nothing, no kidding.

In response to the southern wall (or is it a fence…whatever) between Egypt and Gaza, Israel is no longer in control of all of Gaza’s access point, and so there are elements in the Israeli government arguing that:

Matan Vilnai, deputy minister of Defence, speaking on an army radio station said that: “We have to understand that when Gaza is open on the other side it is no longer our responsibility, consequently we want to separate ourselves from it”. Vilnai added that, following the withdrawal of Hebrew colonists in 2005, “we want to continue our disengagement from Gaza and stop delivering electricity, water and medicines so that they can be supplied by someone else: we will act responsibly until an alternative comes up”

(See here, here, here, here, and here)

In response to these suggestions, Egypt is moving to regain control of the boarder.

It would appear that no one wants responsibility for Gaza. I think that this concept is less appetizing than Plutonium toothpaste.

ECB Eschews Rate Cut

No Comments

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided not to cut interest rates, but instead fucus on minimizing Euro zone inflation (here and here)

Given the different financial situations in Europe and the US, the Euro Zone is not having a housing collapse, this is not surprising. Additionally, the ECB does not have a portfolio is just controlling inflation, unemployment is not a part of its mission.

This does, however, limit the Fed, as it places yet more downward pressure on the US Dollar.

Deal Reached on Tax Rebates for Stimulus – washingtonpost.com

No Comments

Deal Reached on Tax Rebates for Stimulus – washingtonpost.com

High points:

  • 1200 Per couple for the middle class

  • $300 credit for children.

  • Limits of $75K/150K for single/family

Low Points:

  • No unemployment or food stamp spending, the BEST way to stimulate the economy.
  • Only $300 for the working poor.
  • Completely bogus tax giveaways to businesses that will take months if not years to show effect, and generate less economic activity
  • An increase from $417,000 to as much as $700,000 for “jumbo” mortgages bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Like we need to involve the government in bad mortgages for rich people. It’s a bailout of the rich, and it’s bad policy.

If the Democrats had any guts, they would have held out for better, but I guess that guts is just ,”not on the table”.

I won’t do the Pelosi pic again.

It Looks Like Musharraf is Toast

No Comments

I think that he is done, and that his options will be death or exile.he’s losing retired military officers, the new Pakistani Chief of Staff, General Ashfaq Kiyani, is forbidding active duty military men from meeting with him, etc.

Of course, through all this, Bush and His Evil Minions™ are without a clue:

Frustration is growing among Musharraf’s military and political allies partly because he is not listening to their advice, U.S. and Pakistani analysts said. “He’s locked in his own bubble that ‘l’etat, c’est moi’ — the state is me. He doesn’t understand how anti-democratic he is. He’s not thinking clearly anymore,” said the senior congressional official.

The Bush administration is still backing Musharraf, even as officials speak more frequently of working with “the Pakistani people,” instead of “the Pakistani leader.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday met Musharraf on the outskirts of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in the highest-level contact since he declared emergency rule in November.

Rice pressed him to ensure that the vote is free and fair and that the Pakistani people have confidence in the results, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Such remarks suggest that the administration is discounting the new assessments on Musharraf from intelligence and congressional officials.

This is unlikely to end well.

Economics Update

No Comments

It appears that the the markets are expecting another 75 basis point rate cut by the Fed at their regular meeting next week. The futures market on the Fed rate cut puts the chance at 81%.

I have no clue what sh$# they are smoking, but I wants some. It’s gotta be some seriously good stuff.

Could someone please explain to me how this is not making book over the telephone and internet, and hence illegal?

Then we have George Soros warning that he is seeing a possibility of “systemic failure” in the markets. He expects that at the end of the US Dollar as the sole world reserve currency, which has been obvious for years, and that the era of “superleverage” is over, and that, “”I question how far the Fed can go, given the reluctance of people to hold dollars”, and, “We need a new sheriff, not Washington consensus.”

Basically, he’s saying that we are in 1930, and we need the restoration of FDR market regulations. I agree, but, of course, I didn’t break the Bank of England because I understood world currency markets better than the English Ministry of the Exchequer, and he has, so his opinion carries more weight.

In real estate, we have Credit Suisse predicting losses of $16 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we have a year over year price drop of 6% in the US, and that median sale prices in 2007 was 1.3% lower than 2006, the first yearly drop ever.

And in employment and automotive, Ford is reported to be offering buyouts to all of its 54,000 hourly employees.

Every salesman, every buyer, every secretary, every engineer, etc.

People Who Should Have Their Asses Kicked, IBM Edition

No Comments

This might also be titled, “Management victims who really need to join a union”.

You know, after 10 years of thinking of IBM as the antiChrist, I had finally replaced them with Microsoft, but this story has me reevaluating.

If they are not the antiChrist, they are at least a minor minion of Chtulhu.

As often happens, companies sometimes get spanked for not paying overtime to its workers, usually for being stupid. It happened to IBM, and they had to pay $65 million in back pay, and they reclassified about 7600 workers as “non-exempt”, meaning qualifying for overtime pay.

IBM took another step too, they cut the base pay of these workers by 15%.

If you do the math, they have to work 45 hours to earn what they previously made at 40.

And economists wonder why the average American is not satisfied with our “wonderful” economy.

BTW, I think you could make an argument that this is illegal retaliation. Talk to a class action lawyer.

Robert J. “I Hate Poor People” Samuelson Comes Out Against Corporate Excess

No Comments

This guy has been infesting the Washington Post for years, and if you know the topic, you generally don’t have to read him.

His standard schtick is something like, “Social Security and Medicare? They are bad, they make you stupid. You should be an overpaid pundit like me,” so you could have knocked me over with an adolescent tuna when I came across Mr. Samuelson railing against excess salaries and lack of accountability:

Here are estimates for 2007:

  • Investment banker: $2.1 million, consisting of $275,000 in base pay plus $1.2 million in cash bonus and $625,000 in long-term bonus. (An investment banker helps firms raise capital by selling new stocks and bonds and also advises on mergers and acquisitions.)
  • Bond trader: $1.5 million, with $240,000 in base pay, $975,000 in cash bonus and $310,000 in long-term bonus.
  • Hedge fund manager: $1.8 million, split between a salary of $265,000 and $1.5 million bonus.

    • Just why investment bankers and traders out-earn, say, doctors or computer engineers is a question I’ve never heard convincingly answered. Are they smarter? Unlikely. Do they contribute more to the economy? Questionable. True, Wall Street often performs a vital function. It channels savings into productive investments. It helps provide access to capital and credit. In 2006, U.S. companies raised nearly $4 trillion through new stocks and bonds. Many financial innovations, including mortgage-backed securities, have benefited individuals and companies.

    But Wall Street also frequently misallocates capital and credit. The “tech bubble” of the late 1990s was one episode. Now we have subprime mortgages. Why? Well, the herd mentality of financial crazes has a long history. But compensation practices skewed so heavily toward bonuses based on annual profits make matters worse.

    You know, these lessons are not only the same ones that were used to change public policy (Glass-Steagal anyone?) following the Great Depression, but they are actually predicted by free market theory.

    If I can make a million or so dollars, and and do not lose this money when the crash comes, why the hell should I care about long term consequences?

    One hopes that the current crisis will lead to a re-evaluation of the slavish devotion to the unregulated market as a solver of all problems.

    OK, It’s Official, I am a Purveyor of Weapons of Mass Destruction

    No Comments

    Many years ago, around the turn of the millennium, I worked at Loral Vought Systems…..Lockheed Martin Vought Systems…..Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control* in Grand Prairie, TX.

    One of the items that I worked on was the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS.
    I’ve also worked on the Armies ongoing but truly misbegotten Future Combat System† (FCS), it’s largest procurement program.

    So now, I’m beginning to see just how tied into the Military Industrial Complex I am.

    Maybe I should ditch engineering and become a Klezmer‡.

    Yes, I worked on this, and that little flare behind the head is for additional volume for the motor to increase range. The original PAC-3 had straight sides.

    It looks like they are still using ProEngineer™ as the CAD package. After a while, you can kind of get a sense of which cad packate it is from how it renders.

    Yep, worked on this too, looking at a more flexible launch cannister than the PAC-3 launch cannister.

    Worked on most of these too.

    Worst place I ever worked. It was so bad that people who never worked at Stewart & Stevenson, Tactical Vehicle Systems would hang up when they heard Sealy, TX.

    Made Dilbert™ and his workplace look like “Nerdvana”.

    They ended up screwing up in reverse. Their final drawing package was bad enough that no one else wants to bid on FMTV contracts, because they can’t make heads or tails of the drawings.

    *It was all the same place, it just went through one merger, and two name changes.
    †Note to self, need to finish article about FCS for my blog. It’s been sitting in my draft folder for months.
    ‡An itinerant Jewish musician, more specifically, one who plays music typical of Eastern European Jews.

    You Don’t Destroy the Army You Want, You Destroy the Army You Have

    No Comments

    The US Army has missed its recruiting benchmarks by an alarming margin:

    • For the third consecutive year, the Army missed DoD benchmarks set for educational attainment and scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test. (Important, because non HS grads drop out of service in their first term at a much higher rate)
    • Scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) continue to fall. 60.8% of the recuits scored average or higher, well below the Army’s now abandoned goal of 67%.
    • Overall recruit quality, a figure derived largely from the above two factors, has fallen, with high quality recruits plummeting to 44.6%, down from 56.2% in 2007.
    • Bonuses for reenlistments have skyrocketed in amount, and scope.

    Heck of a job there, Rummie.

    Maybe Now Mukasye Can Say if Waterboarding is Torture

    No Comments

    During his confirmation hearings, Mukasey said that he would not be able to make a determination as to whether waterboarding was torture until after he consulted with the DoJ and intelligence officials about what was going on, and what legal justifications were used.

    Well, Mukasey is appearing before the Senate next week, and Senators have figured that he has had plenty of time to get their answer:

    January 23, 2008
    The Honorable Michael Mukasey
    Attorney General
    U.S. Department of Justice
    950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, D.C. 20530

    Dear Attorney General Mukasey:

    On October 23, 2007, we wrote to you to ask you whether the abusive interrogation technique known as waterboarding is illegal.

    On October 30, you responded that waterboarding and other abusive techniques “seem over the line or, on a personal basis, repugnant to me.” You said that you could not offer an opinion on the legality of waterboarding based on “hypothetical facts and circumstances” because you had not been briefed on the government’s interrogation techniques: “Legal opinions should treat real issues. I have not been briefed on techniques used in any classified interrogation program conducted by any government agency.” However, you committed that, “if confirmed I will review any coercive interrogation techniques currently used by the United States Government and the legal analysis authorizing their use to assess whether such techniques comply with the law.”

    You were confirmed as Attorney General on November 8, 2007. On November 9, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham sent you a letter stating, “The scenarios you previously described as hypothetical are no longer so, and you now have the benefit of full access to classified programs and memoranda. We urge you to acquaint yourself immediately with these matters and take the opportunity to make clear that waterboarding is illegal and can never be employed.”

    It has been over two months since then, ample time for you to study this issue and reach a conclusion. On November 27, State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger said you were giving “high priority” to reviewing interrogation techniques, claiming, “I think there is a growing recognition … about the need for greater clarity about what is permitted and what is prohibited.”

    Your failure to say whether waterboarding is legal has placed Judge Mark Filip, the nominee for Deputy Attorney General, in a difficult position. When Judge Filip was asked at his confirmation hearing whether waterboarding was unlawful, he was unwilling to answer because you were studying the issue: “[T]he Attorney General of the United States is presently reviewing that legal question. … I don’t think I can, or anyone who could potentially [be] considered for his deputy, could get out in front of him on that question while it’s under review.”

    We are concerned that your silence poses a more serious threat to American servicemembers. As we noted in our October 23rd letter:

    Your unwillingness to state that waterboarding is illegal may place Americans at risk of being subjected to this abusive technique. If the United States does not explicitly and publicly condemn waterboarding, it will be more difficult to argue that enemy forces cannot waterboard American prisoners.

    This concern was highlighted recently during “The Legal Rights of Guantanamo Detainees: What Are They, Should They Be Changed, and Is an End in Sight?” a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security on December 11. Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, Legal Advisor to the Convening Authority for the Office of Military Commissions, refused to say whether it would be legal for the Iranian government to subject an American citizen to waterboarding. He also testified that it is possible that information obtained through waterboarding could be introduced as evidence in a military commission.

    In stark contrast to Brigadier General Hartmann’s refusal to say whether it would be illegal to waterboard an American, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently opined that waterboarding would be torture if used against him. According to The New Yorker, DNI McConnell said, “If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can’t imagine how painful! Whether it’s torture by anybody else’s definition, for me it would be torture.”

    Please respond to the following questions:
    1. Is the use of waterboading as an interrogation technique illegal under U.S. law, including treaty obligations?

    2. Based on your review of other coercive interrogation techniques and the legal analysis authorizing their use, what is your assessment of whether such techniques comply with the law?

    Thank you for your time and consideration.

    Sincerely,

    Richard J. Durbin
    Patrick J. Leahy
    Edward M. Kennedy
    Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
    Herb Kohl
    Dianne Feinstein
    Russell D. Feingold
    Charles E. Schumer
    Benjamin L. Cardin
    Sheldon Whitehouse

    Pelosi Caves to Republicans….AGAIN

    No Comments

    Yes, Nancy Pelosi, in discussions with Republicansgave up more in food food stamps and an extension to unemployment benefits to get tax rebates for the working poor.

    She also gave in on tax breaks for business.

    I heard on the radio that 1$ in unemployment benefits generates about $1.60 in economic activity, and $1.70 for the food stamps, while the business tax cuts generate about 25¢ for every dollar.

    The unemployment and food stamps also hit the economy in weeks, as opposed to about 6 months for business tax breaks.

    Thank you for knuckling under and screwing the economy to give tax breaks to Bush’s buddies.

    Yes, Nancy Pelosi, good old Ms.
    NOT ON THE TABLE! NOT ON THE TABLE!

    How many New York Times reporters it takes to cover the death of an actor with just a few movies to his credit:?

    No Comments
    15


    Heath Ledger, Actor, Is Found Dead at 28
    By JAMES BARRON    1

    …

    Reporting was contributed by Al Baker2, Anne Barnard3, Brooks Barnes4, David Carr5, Sewell Chan6, John Eligon7, David S. Hirschman8, Thomas J. Lueck9, Angela Macropoulos10, Jennifer Mascia11, Colin Moynihan12, Campbell Robertson13, Melena Ryzik14 and Paula Schwartz15.

    H/T Altercation.

    In Other Unsurprising News, the MPAA is a Bunch of Lying Jackals*

    No Comments

    Well, Harold Feld ads some fact checking to MPAA claims that, “40% of industry loses from internet piracy could be traced to file sharing at universities.”

    LEK Consulting Services, which did the research for the MPAA, has now released its methodology, and based on their own numbers, the file sharing through university computing services is about 3%.

    They used this study to justify attempts to use legislation to coerce universities to lock down their networks in very expensive ways, and to make the penalties for such activities worse than murder.

    *No offense intended to Jackals.