Author: Matthew G. Saroff

CREW Calls for Criminal Investigation of Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

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Well, a corrupt politician in Louisiana, who would have thunk it.

The way it looks right now, it’s something like 2 to something like 133 by party, with all the Dem’s cases being in Louisiana.

This one appears to be a bit more prosaic though, no money in the freezer, just earmarks for contributions.

Personally, I would not miss her in the Senate one bit. She is a DINO, and a much too consistent vote for the Republican agenda.

At some point, party discipline must be enforced, or you stand for nothing.

Economic Update

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Merrill Lynch saying that a recession in the US “has arrived”, to which I say, “what took you so long”?

Countrywide Financialis hit by rumors of bankruptcy, and they have admitted that they fabricated documents in a foreclosure suit., so their stock is tanking.

Morgan Stanley has downgraded Ambac Financial and MBIA, two of the largest bond insurers because of concerns about mounting losses.

New home contracts fall, the National Association of Realtors’ has upped their estimate for year over year losses, and KB Home’s losses shoot skyward.

Thimerosal DOES NOT Cause Autism

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A study has just been completed on Autism rates following the removal Thimerosal from vaccines in 2001, and the numbers are stark, removing Thimerosol made no change in the incidence of Autism spectrum disorders. (LA Times Link)

Autism cases continued to increase in California after the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal was eliminated from most childhood vaccines, according to a new report.This suggests that exposure to thimerosal is not a primary cause of autism.

Speaking as a parent of a child on the spectrum, Charlie is a very high functioning Aspergers kid, let me state that the people arguing for this are wrong.

Every peer reviewed study has shown no correlation, and while correlation may not prove causation, a lack of correlation does prove a lack of causation.

Inoculations work. Inoculations don’t give your kid an Autism Spectrum disorder.

Get your kids vaccinated, for their good, and for the good of their classmates.

This is REALLY Classy

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You know, one of the things I prefer about the British is their culture of heckling.
Not only is heckling expected, but politicians are expected to be able to deal with it.

I think that it would result in more substantive campaigns, because the average voter/heckler has the ability to drive the focus, and politicians have to be quick on their feet.

I think it makes it harder for someone to become president just because they are the idiot son of a previous president.

That being said, if America were to adopt this model, we would need remedial education for hecklers, because lordy, this is lame:

Two men were just removed from a high school auditorium where Sen. Hillary Clinton is speaking, after they stood up during her speech, lifted signs and chanted “iron my shirt.”

Seriously, if you are going to do this, spend some time coming up with something that makes her look bad, not something that makes you look bad.

This is just so “high school”.

Straights of Hormuz, Gulf of Tonkin, It’s All the Same

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This report sounds very familiar, a bunch of small boats, “threatening” US naval vessels.

While I have no doubt that the Iranians have detailed plans for an assault of US Naval forces, this is not how they would do it.

On Black Monday in 1987, the US and Iranians engaged in the largest surface engagement since the battle of Leyte Gulf, which resulted in the destruction of half the Iranian surface fleet.

It didn’t get much coverage because of the stock market crash that day.

The Iranians have a very good idea of how much they are over matched, even in littoral waters like the Persian Gulf.

They won’t be broadcasting threats on the radio and broadcasting, “Your ships will explode in a couple of minutes”.

Any attack will be conducted in small boats, launched from a number of different locations, and it will be conducted in radio silence.

There was no attack, or any provocation, just some testosterone laden maneuvering.

Running Out of Ballots: New Hampshire Turnout Off the Charts

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Good. High turnout is something that benefits the society, because it gives more people a vested interest in the results, and hence a reason to be informed.

Not surprisingly, the turnout has increased the most on the Democratic side of the primary, undeclared voter can declare when they go into vote, and it looks like there may be shortages of ballots.

I think that this means a long night before all returns are in, but they will probably have a winner declared by 9:00pm on both sides.

Franken Outraising Coleman

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Whatever side you are on in Minnesota, it’s clear that you will lose, because with the amount of money raised, Franken raised $1.9 million in the last quarter, and Coleman raised $1.7 million, you are going to be getting wall to wall ads.

Once you get wall to wall ads, they go negative, because otherwise they become background noise.

I’m wondering how long before Franken is accused of being a “Thespian”.

Coleman is ahead in cash on hand, about $6m to about $3.1m, and it’s likely that even with Franken out raising his next nearest primary opponent by a significant amount, he will have a serious primary campaign.

Of course, this election is all about him, Al Franken. (Old SNL reference)

Xerox is Doomed, Stages of Grief Edition

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It appears Xerox® has unveiled a new logo, thus they are doomed.


For people, there are 5 stages of grief, particularly when one is told that they have a terminal disease:

  1. Denial: The initial stage: “It can’t be happening.”
  2. Anger: “Why me? It’s not fair.”
  3. Bargaining: “Just let me live to see my children graduate.”
  4. Depression: “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”
  5. Acceptance: “It’s going to be OK.”

(taken verbatim from the Wiki)

Businesses that are are terminal go through similar stages, though there are some differences.

Specifically, there is a “their logo, or their name, or both” stage.

My Prediction on New Hampshire

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Well, really I have only one, that Huckabee will do a lot better than the polling trend of 12% or so.

If you look at things like this report of large crowds for him, and the statements of the Republican establishment and the Washington punditocracy* to the effect that Huckabee supporters are mouth breathing morons, which would tend to have people not telling pollsters that they lean his way.

Additionally, independent voters are more likely to vote in the Democratic primary, simply because they believe that the next president will be a Democrat, which leaves a higher proportion of hard core conservatives voting.

I’m calling for 17+% for Huckabee. (A clarification, I’m not calling a win, just that he breaks 17%)

*Which might be better described as a Kakistocracy.

Tenet and Other CIA Officials Lawyer Up

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It’s been known for some time that Jose Rodriguez has retained Bob Bennet, and now George Tenet has retained Howard Shapiro, a former FBI general coundil.

Additionally, Roy Krieger, who has represented a large number of CIA employees is getting inquiries.

These folks are experiencing the prisoner’s dilemma, and assumign that this investigation runs past January 21 of next year, the one who rolls to the prosecutor first wins.

It’s clear that these tapes were destroyed to prevent an investigation.

Joe Trippi Claims That Hillary Campaign Is Broke

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Honestly, I don’t see this claim as anything but self-aggrandizement from Trippi.

He thinks that because he blew through $40 million dollars with Dean in 2004, that Hillary must have blown through $100 million or so in 2008.

I place no credence in this, for a number of reasons:

  • It’s Joe bloody Trippi, who has little credibility.
  • You are not getting reports of frantic fund raising emails, and in this day of the internet, if there were a cash flow crisis, emails would be flying fast and furious.
  • This serves his interest as an Edwards campaign advisor.

Adventures in Ebay

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I wanted to upgrade my system, but because it’s a Dell with ECC RAM, it’s hard to find the memory, and it costs a lot, so I checked out eBay.

I made the order on December 29, it arrived FedEX ground yesterday, and it works. No muss, no fuss.

It was between $400 and $500 for a gig of RAM from Dell, it was $29.95+ 9.95 s&h for the 1 gig from computersgeeks. Used but a the Dell OEM part

I recommend the seller, but once again, everything Dell does seems to be non standard and a pain to replace.

Christopher Hayes’ Proposals for Good Campaign Coverage

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His proposals are pretty common sense, but they would improve coverage a lot:

Then there’s the additional problem that the longer a reporter spends with a campaign, the more likely they’ll develop either a kind of contempt for the candidate and the campaign or a strange version of stockholm syndrome. Clearly this was the case during 2000 and 2004 when the dislike for both Gore and Kerry was palpable. This might be natural and human, but it breeds awful journalism.

Finally, we have the perenial complaint that the coverage focuses on the horse-race and the theater of the campaign and not on the issues. But I don’t really think that’s the fault of reporters. First, they have to file constantly on short deadlines. So even if Obama releases a tax plan one day, and you write a piece about that, that’s still only a one-day story. What do you write about the next day? Why, Obama sniping with Hillary or somesuch. Second of all, consider the imbalance in expertise between a campaign and those who cover it. When Obama releases a tax plan, it’s a product of a team of policy experts, who know the terrain inside and out. But the reporter who has to file the deadline piece about it doesn’t have any expertise on tax policy. So how could their coverage be anything but shallow?

His proposals:

  • Rotate Reports. After covering a candidate for a few weeks, they have heard the stump speech dozens of times, and wouldn’t know a new policy initiative if it bit them on the ass.
  • More long form non-deadline pieces. (If someone has been with a candidate for months, they can provide deeper insights).
  • Assign campaign coverage to beat reports. Hays gives the example of the New York Times‘ Jeff Zeleny covering an Obama tax proposal. The problem was that Zeleny does not do taxes, and most reporters are innumerate. However, the Times does have reporters who can do taxes and count, like David Cay Johnston, who has won a Pulitzer in this area.

The only thing that I would add is that, particularly for papers like the LA Times, WaPo, and Times, who can pick and choose their talent, don’t hire innumerate reporters.

I don’t care if you are covering politics, or architecture, or fashion, if you cannot read a balance sheet, you have no business being a reporter.

We are not talking differential equations, or even calculus, we are talking Algebra that should have been mastered in high school.

OK, Gravel is My Guy, at Least Until He Joneses My Buzz

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So now, Mike Gravel is telling teens that pot is better than alcohol.

He also said that by decriminalizing dope, you would end up with fewer criminals, and less exposure to the criminal element.

Of course, this is that wacky Gravel being wacky again…except that he’s telling the truth.

Marijuana is not physically addictive, it cannot kill you with an overdose, and the effects on the system long term are milder.

Of course, the problem is that legalization would cut into both the profits of the Pot business, and the budget of the DEA, so “various serious people” don’t support legalization.