Author: Matthew G. Saroff

Just When I Thought That They Could Not Get Any Stupider

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Un-Dirtyword-believable.

This is so stupid, it shocks me, and I though I had become inured to stupidity flowing from Shrub’s mouth.

Bush cites Israel as model for Iraq

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 3 minutes ago

President Bush held up Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq Thursday, saying the U.S. goal there is not to eliminate attacks but to enable a democracy that can function despite violence.

…

Still, he laid out in some of his plainest terms yet how to define when the U.S. presence in Iraq has achieved its goals.

“Our success in Iraq must not be measured by the enemy’s ability to get a car bombing in the evening news,” he said. “No matter how good the security, terrorists will always be able to explode a bomb on a crowded street.”

He suggested Israel as a model.

There, Bush said, “Terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks. The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it’s not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that’s a good indicator of success that we’re looking for in Iraq.”

It was likely to be controversial — and possibly even explosive — for Bush to set out Israel as a model for a Muslim Middle Eastern nation. Israel has been locked for decades in an intractable dispute with Palestinians in the neighboring occupied territories, a conflict that is viewed as a major recruiting tool for Islamic extremist groups like al-Qaida.

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All-White Jury. Nope, no racism here.

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Bet you haven’t heard about this in the news, but a European paper, the International Herald Tribune, did.
All-white jury likely to hear racial fight case in Louisiana

The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

JENA, Louisiana: An all-white jury was seated Tuesday to hear the case against the first of the “Jena Six” — a group of black youths accused of beating a white fellow student amid racial discord at a Louisiana school.

Five women and a man will hear opening arguments Wednesday morning at the courthouse in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana, where the black population is only about 12 percent.

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The approaching trial had led to allegations of racism from parents of the accused, who said the original charges — attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder — were out of proportion to the crime. The charges carry a combined sentence of 80 years.

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The racial tension began in late August in Jena — a central Louisiana town of 2,900 with about 350 black residents — after a black student sat under a tree traditionally used as a gathering spot by white students. The next month, three nooses were hanging in the tree when students arrived on campus.

….

The school’s principal recommended the students who hung the nooses be expelled, but they served brief suspensions instead.

On Dec. 4, Justin Barker, who is white, was attacked at school by a small group of black students. He was treated at a hospital.

RIAA Victim Goes RICO On Their Asses.

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Here’s hoping that the RIAA gets really shafted.

RIAA tried to shake down 10-year-old daughter, suit claims
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
Published Wednesday 27th June 2007 18:45 GMT

An unemployed single mom with health problems has renewed her legal challenge of the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) with unseemly new details. They include accusations that the cartel’s goons tried to contact the woman’s 10-year-old daughter at school by impersonating the girl’s grandmother on the phone.

RIAA agents pursuing bogus copyright violations also called the apartment of Tanya Andersen looking for her daughter Kylee and demanded they take the girl’s deposition, according to a complaint filed last week in federal court in Portland, Oregon.

Later, during settlement discussions, the RIAA told Andersen she had to abandon all legal rights she may have in a countersuit or the association would once again demand to “interrogate and confront her little girl at the offices of the RIAA lawyers,” according to the suit.

This crosses so many lines, both ethically and legally.

“Defendants’ lawyer threatened persecution of Kylee in an effort to force Ms. Andersen to abandon her counterclaims against the defendant record companies,” Andersen’s complaint claims. “Their demand for face-to-face confrontation with Ms. Andersen’s then 10 year-old child in a deposition at the offices of RIAA lawyers were also intended to coerce and threaten her.”

She going RICO on all this. I hope that some goes Abu Ghraib on these bastards.

Careful readers will remember Andersen, now 44 years old, countersued the RIAA (http://www.theregister.com/2005/10/04/riaa_sued/) in late 2005 after being accused of illegally downloading gangster rap tunes such as “Shake that Ass Bitch,” “Bullet in the Head,” “I Stab People” and several with titles that even we cannot publish.

Her counterclaims equated the RIAA to thugs that knowingly employed illegal investigative methods and pursued factually flawed charges. Suing under state and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization laws designed to target organized crime rings, Andersen became something of a folk hero for her refusal to submit to the 800-pound gorilla.

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Wanker of the Day: Patent Troll Edition.

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Daniel Leckrone, the Chairman of TPL Group.

The TPL Group describes itself as:

TPL has been “purpose built” to deliver an array of services that are fundamental to streamlining the development and commercialization of proprietary products and technologies. By consistently delivering innovation and opportunity, TPL has earned a reputation of being a trusted partner that can enable constructive licensing programs as well as new product development programs that leverage the IP assets within its patent portfolios.

These folks are patent trolls, and Mr. Leckrone is their chief.

Misnamed Patent Reform Act would stifle innovation

By Daniel E. Leckrone
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:06/27/2007 01:31:51 AM PDT

While U.S. patent law has been effective in protecting the intellectual property of inventors, which has fueled productivity growth and the U.S. economy for more than two centuries, the so-called “Patent Reform Act” introduced in Congress this year proposes major changes to the law governing how patents are obtained and enforced. Ironically, these changes are being promoted by the most powerful and prosperous high-tech corporations – the “Patent Goliaths” – which came to power based on the patent system as it now stands.

In mounting their full-scale invasion of the territory protected by patent laws, the Goliaths continue to amass political support which, if not effectively challenged, will lead to an unwarranted degradation of the legendary patent system established by the U.S. Constitution. Even the lethargic Department of Commerce has vigorously opposed most of the sweeping changes proposed by this act, as the Department of Commerce explained in its recent 11-page letter to House Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman, a lead sponsor of this misguided legislative effort.

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The author is a patent troll, and he has an interest in keeping his “automatic injunction” shakedown legal.

The rise of patent trolls, in mobile phones, internet connectivity, etc. the Euros and Japanese are increasingly eating out lunch. You can’t make a move in the US these days without getting approval from lawyers.

It not only prevents innovation generally, it makes it prohibitively expensive for the small inventor to actually bring a product to market, because of fears that it might violate a undeveloped, and frequently completely obvious, patent held by the parasites.

There is no need for an injunction with patent trolls. They have no intention of developing a market, they are just getting money for someone else’s work.

This means that they can be made whole at any time by damages with interest.

There is no irreparable damage, so no need for an injunction.

Of course, this means that any company can tell the patent troll to take it to court rather than paying their blackmail, and this is what he fears.

This is NOT Piracy

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I understand that people like to call ANY threat to profits “Piracy”, but this ain’t it.

This is like GM chipping cans of motor oil so that only Delco cans work in your car.

Can cryptography prevent printer-ink piracy?

By Erica Ogg

Story last modified Wed Jun 27 10:37:34 PDT 2007

In the computer printer business, everyone knows the big money comes from the sale of ink cartridges.

Most of these cartridges are made by printer manufacturers and sell for a substantial premium. Some come from unauthorized sources, sell for substantially less and attract the attention of antipiracy lawyers.

Cryptography Research Inc. (CRI), a San Francisco company, is developing chip technology aimed at helping printer manufacturers protect this primary source of profit. The company’s chips use cryptography designed to make it harder for printers to use off-brand and counterfeit cartridges.

“We’re not saying we can end piracy, but our system is designed to recover from failure,” said Kit Rodgers, CRI’s vice president of business development.

Not all ink-cartridge remanufacturing is illegal–much of it is, in fact, legitimate–but pirated ink-cartridge technology cuts substantially into original manufacturers’ profits.

There are three main ways the $60 billion-a-year worldwide printing industry loses money:

• Used cartridges get refilled and sold as “new”– instead of as remanufactured.

You will note here that this will potentially block ALL non OEM cartridge remanufacturing. In fact, most non OEM remanufactured cartridges are sold as remanufactured such and are legal.

There are already laws against fraud.

• Cartridges get illegally replicated through reverse engineering.

You need to explain to me how it’s illegal. Every non OEM ink manufacturer has to reverse-engineer the cartridges, and I don’t see court cases, except in the case of fraudulent labeling.

• Printers get hacked or physically altered to use any type of ink.

Umm…You’re telling me that my use of an ink refiller on my machine is piracy?

And here is the kicker:

In a high-profile 2003 case, Lexmark International, the company that makes printers for Dell, took printer-supplies specialist Static Control Components to court for selling a chip that allowed Lexmark printers to accept any kind of ink cartridge. Lexmark ultimately lost the case, but it hasn’t stopped others from trying fiercely to protect their business.

What they are trying to do is block legal competitors to their markets.

Meltdown!!!!

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The problem is very simple. We are having meltdowns in instruments that do not trade in the normal way.

If one of these funds go under, there is no way on knowing what, if anything the holders of the loan will get from selling these assets.

That’s why everyone freaked when Merril Lynch said that it would be selling off those assets from the Bear Sterns fund.

They are rated on face value, and the bids were coming in at far less than that.

When these sales occur, the assets necessarily get revalued at the auction price (willing sale, willing buyer), and suddenly hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars of funds become insolvent.

When hedge funds implode

By Axel Merk

The US trade deficit with the rest of the world leapfrogged in recent days. Aside from goods and services, the United States is now importing “consensus-based crisis management” from Japan.

Out of fear that a cleanup of bad loans would trigger widespread defaults, Japanese banks got themselves deeper and deeper into trouble by hushing up the problems. We are talking about the crisis at Bear Sterns’ subprime hedge fund. The crisis shows that major adjustments on how the market prices risks are overdue; this may have negative implications for stocks, bonds, and commodities, as well as the US dollar.

Bear Sterns is a leading provider of services to hedge funds; it is also one of the largest originators of subprime-backed collateralized debt obligations. CDOs are what their name implies: a security backed by collateral. CDOs are created when mortgages with various risk profiles are grouped into different tranches or segments. Among others, Bear Sterns would create a CDO in a bundle according to a client’s specifications. Indeed, Bear Sterns would work with a rating agency, such as Moody’s, to obtain the desired rating (a practice likely to face more scrutiny as some allege that Moody’s no longer acts as an independent rating agency, but as a syndicator in the offering).

The explosive demand in this sector has attracted ever more creative structures. Investors should have grown concerned when dealmakers started suggesting that one can create a higher-grade security by grouping together a couple of lower-grade securities; it is rare that 1 + 1 = 3. As these instruments have grown more complex, the clients buying these instruments often do not have a full understanding of what they buy.

How do you make a best-seller better? You introduce leverage. Not only can leverage be introduced in the credit derivatives that define some of these securities, but brokers eager to attract hedge-fund business may also accept CDOs as collateral to lend money. The hedge fund now attracting so much attention is Bear Sterns’ High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, launched only 10 months ago. It shall be noted that Bear Sterns did not put much of its own money into the fund, but supplied many of the CDOs. A total of US$600 million in invested capital was boosted with borrowings of about $6 billion.

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In the brokerage industry, when a margin call is not met (when the borrower cannot provide sufficient collateral), the broker may seize the collateral and liquidate open positions. While a forced sale of the collateral may be painful for the borrower, it protects the system as a whole. Such forced sales happen all the time in the futures market, where positions are “marked to market” every day to evaluate the profitability and risk of open positions.

But the CDO market is not a regulated futures market; there is no daily market price that would allow one to assess the value of the collateral. The primary methods used to value CDOs are called “mark to market” and “mark to model”. In the more conservative “mark to market” approach, independent parties are asked to value the securities; as the name implies, the “mark to model” approach is more aggressive and uses a computed, theoretical value.

But because these instruments are sold in privately negotiated transactions, rather than a regulated and liquid market, neither valuation method is suitable in case of a forced liquidation.

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I’m not sure why, perhaps because it is not dependent on US realtors for ad revenues, the Asia times has been ahead of the game on this.

Banks ‘set to call in a swathe of loans

The United States faces a severe credit crunch as mounting losses on risky forms of debt catch up with the banks and force them to curb lending and call in existing loans, according to a report by Lombard Street Research.

Bear Stearns headquarters: Banks ‘set to call in a swathe of loans’
Bear Stearns headquarters in New York

The group said the fast-moving crisis at two Bear Stearns hedge funds had exposed the underlying rot in the US sub-prime mortgage market, and the vast nexus of collateralised debt obligations known as CDOs.

“Excess liquidity in the global system will be slashed,” it said. “Banks’ capital is about to be decimated, which will require calling in a swathe of loans. This is going to aggravate the US hard landing.”

Charles Dumas, the group’s global strategist, said the failed auction of assets seized from one of the Bear Stearns funds by Merrill Lynch had revealed the dark secret of the CDO debt market. The sale had to be called off after buyers took just $200m of the $850m mix.

“The banks were not prepared to bid over 85pc of face value for CDOs rated “A” or better,” he said.

“God knows how low the price would have dropped if they had kept on going. We hear buyers were lobbing bids at just 30pc.

“We don’t know what the value of this debt is because the investment banks shut down the market in a cover-up so that nobody would know. There is $750bn of dubious paper out there in the form of CDOs held by banks that have a total capitalisation of $850bn.”

US property writer Paul Muolo described the Bearn Stearns crisis as the “subprime Chernobyl”, saying the bank had created a “cone of silence”.

Abandoned by fellow banks, Bear Stearns has now put up $3.2bn of its own money to rescue one of the funds, a quarter of its capital.

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The Mortgage Lender Implode-Meter that tracks the US housing markets claims that 86 major lenders have gone bankrupt or shut their doors since the crash began.

The latest are Aegis Lending, Oak Street Mortgage and The Mortgage Warehouse.

….

Nouriel Roubini, economics professor at New York University, said there were now concerns about “systemic risk fall-out” from the Bear Stearns debacle as investors look more closely at the real value of CDOs.

FWIW, Roubini is a VERY sharp guy. He’s been well ahead of the market and the conventional wisdom again and again.

Goldman-issued subprime bonds lead downgrades-Citi
Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:50 PM ET

NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. subprime mortgage bonds issued last year are being downgraded by rating companies at the fastest rate of any issuer, according to Citigroup Inc. research dated June 22.

Nearly 70 of Goldman’s GSAMP-issued bonds, which include subprime loans from a variety of lenders, have been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service in the year through June 15, with 60 of those issued in 2006, analysts at Citigroup Global Markets said in a weekly note.

Downgrades are accelerating on mortgage bonds backed by loans to the riskiest borrowers following an ongoing surge in delinquencies and foreclosures. Lenders loosened underwriting standards in the years through 2006, creating loans whose poor quality became apparent as the U.S. housing slump began.
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Goldman Sachs?

Seriously when these funds actually get a fair assessment, a lot of these banks will be insolvent.

ES&S Gives Up Source Code In California

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These machines are expensive, slow, and not trusted. Just dump them.

E-voting vendor succumbs to California source code demands

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
Published Thursday 28th June 2007 01:50 GMT

Electronic voting machines vendor Election Systems & Software Inc. has finally given in to demands by California’s Secretary of State office that it submit the source code used in one of its products. But it made it abundantly clear it is unhappy about the requirement.

ES&S complied with the demand in an overnight package that was received yesterday by the office of Secretary of State (SOS) Debra Bowen, about three months past due date. Of the four e-voting firms selling products to California counties, only ES&S failed to meet the deadline.

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28301-016

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That’s Lewis I. “Scooter” Libby.

Libby, Libby who can I turn to
You give me something I can hold on to
I know you’ll think I’m like the others before
Who saw your name and number on the wall
Libby I’ve got your number
I need to make you mine
Libby don’t change your number
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
Libby, Libby you’re the bitch for me
You don’t know me but you make me so happy
I tried to call you before
But I lost my nerve
I tried my imagination
But I was disturbed
Libby I’ve got your number
I need to make you mine
Libby don’t change your number
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
I got it (I got it), I got it
I got your number on the wall
I got it (I got it), I got it
For a good time call
Libby don’t change your number
I need to make you mine
Libby I’ve got your number
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)

Solo

Libby don’t change your number
I need to make you mine
Libby I call your number
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
Next two lines sung over
background refrain of “28301-016”
Libby, Libby who can I turn to
For the price of a dime
I can always turn to you
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6 (2 8 3 0 1-0 1 6)
Fade out repeating “1016”

Meanwhile The Surge Continues

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Yes, our presence is helping the Iraqi people, in the same way that John Wilkes Booth helped people enjoy their time in the theater.

New Level of Horror in Iraq: 20 Beheaded, Bound Corpses Discovered in Baghdad
20 Beheaded Bodies Found on Banks of the Tigris River Southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi Police Say
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
The Associated Press

BAGHDAD

Twenty beheaded bodies were discovered Thursday on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, while a parked car bomb killed another 20 people in one of the capital’s busy outdoor bus stations, police said.

The beheaded remains were found in the Sunni Muslim village of Um al-Abeed, near the city of Salman Pak, which lies 14 miles southeast of Baghdad.

The bodies all men aged 20 to 40 years old had their hands and legs bound, and some of the heads were found next to the bodies, two officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Meanwhile, a parked car bomb ripped through a crowded transport hub in southwest Baghdad’s Baiyaa neighborhood at morning rush hour, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 50, another officer said on the same condition.

Many of the victims had been lining up for buses, awaiting a ride to work. Some 40 minibuses were incinerated in the explosion, police said.

Associated Press Television News video showed an open square strewn with smoldering car parts and charred bodies with clothes in tatters. Bystanders, some weeping, gingerly loaded human remains into ambulances.

A pickup truck rumbled slowly away from the scene, with two pairs of legs the dead bodies of victims dangling out of the back.

One of the police officers who gave information about the ghastly discovery of bodies southeast of Baghdad is based at Interior Ministry headquarters in the capital, and the other is based in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

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MiG-35 Details Given

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My money is on India going with Russia, they already have a lot fo the support infrastructure there.

Also note that the Mig-35, Su-27 variants, Typhoon, Rafale, and Gripen are all offering AESA upgrades.

The USAF is billing as a great ace in the hole, and it seems not so tough to do.

Bangalore air show: MiG-35 makes debut at Aero India

RSK MiG chose Aero India to display the MiG-35 publicly for the first time. A land-based version of the Indian navy’s MiG-29KUB, the aircraft was first flown last month. The MiG-35 is being offered to meet the Indian air force’s requirement for 126 multirole fighters.

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The MiG-35 is first Russian aircraft fitted with an active electronically scanned array radar. The Phazotron-NIIR Zhuk-MA was publicly revealed by removing the aircraft’s nosecone. The Zhuk-MA’s antenna consists of 160 modules, each with four receive-and-transmit modules. It is believed to offer a 160km (85nm) air target detection radius and 300km for surface ships. ….

The MiG-35 is powered by two RD-33MKBs that can be fitted with KliVT swivel-nozzles and a thrust vectoring control (TVC) system. …..

Good News: Immigration Bill Takes Body Blow

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Quite frankly, I’m not concerned about amnesty.

I object to the slave labor guest worker program. It’s a deal breaker for me.

I also think that the wall is bull$%#@. 30% of illegals overstay visas, and the draw is employers.

Strong anti-employer measures is what is needed.

Additionally, this is a Bush loss, and makes him even more toxic, which might help in getting us out of Iraq.

Yes, I am suggesting that absent a need to pass any bill right now, it’s best to take Bush a notch.

We can do something with a Dem in the WH.

Senate immigration bill suffers crushing defeat
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush’s immigration bill suffered a crushing defeat Thursday in the Senate, when members voted against advancing the controversial legislation.

A final tally for the vote has not yet been announced.

The bill would provides a path to citizenship for some of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and toughens border security.

If the bill fails, supporters and opponents of the controversial legislation claim there is no way to bring it back before this Congress ends.

Senators voting against cutting off debate and referring the bill for a final vote. The cloture vote required a three-fifths majority, or 60 votes.

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First completed Boeing 787 leaves assembly hall for paint shop-27/06/2007-Flightglobal.com

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My money is that there will be some delays in deliveries of the aircraft, and then the bankers wringing their hands over Airbus, will whine about boeing.

PICTURES: First completed Boeing 787 leaves assembly hall for paint shop

Flightglobal.com has obtained pictures of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner headed for the paint shop earlier this week at Boeing’s assembly plant in Everett, Washington. The aircraft is scheduled to be formally rolled out on 8 July (7/8/7 using the US date convention) and fly for the first time in August or September. Entry into service with launch customer, All Nippon Airways, is slated for next May.


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Coulter’s words help Edwards raise cash

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If I ever run for office, I’m going to need to call Ann Coulter a c*cks*ck*r.

Coulter’s words help Edwards raise cash

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WriterThu Jun 28, 1:33 AM ET

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Wednesday encouraged his supporters to donate to his campaign in response to “hateful” comments from conservative author Ann Coulter.

Edwards made his first comments to The Associated Press in response to Coulter’s suggestion that she wished he would be “killed in a terrorist assassination plot.” His campaign cited her remarks in two e-mails and a telephone text message to supporters for donations, with the fundraising deadline on Saturday.

It’s not the first time Coulter has given the Edwards campaign a financial boost. In March, she called Edwards a “faggot” and the campaign used video of the comment to help raise $300,000 before the end of the first quarter.

In the e-mails, the campaign asked supporters to send donations to defy her remarks and help Edwards meet his goal of raising $9 million in the second quarter. The first e-mail from campaign adviser Joe Trippi showed a clip of Coulter on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” where she made the comments on Monday.

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Some Interesting News for Al Gore Watchers

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I’m just putting this out, that’s all.

My guess is that there were either translation errors, or that Tien is reading too much in between the lines.

This is not something that would leak out in Taiwan first.

My sign that Al Gore is running will be if he is literally running, you know, doing the treadmill, getting slimmed down for the campaign, etc.

Taiwan Quick Take

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ENVIRONMENT
Al Gore visit postponed
Former US vice president Al Gore will not be able to make it to Taiwan this September to address the issue of global warming, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said yesterday. Tien, who invited Gore to visit Taiwan to promote awareness on global warming, told reporters yesterday that she received an e-mail from the Harry Walker Agency, which has the exclusive right to arrange Gore’s speeches, saying that Gore had canceled all his scheduled events in the next six months. The visit to Taiwan had been postponed to next year, she added. Tien said the reason for the cancelation was that Gore was considering a presidential bid.

For the Record, I’ve Never Been THIS Drunk

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Damn, that’s the 2nd drunkest that I’ve ever heard of.

Man mistakes straw bale for stricken woman, gives it CPR

By Daniel Brownstein

A Hilton Head Island man confused bales of pine straw with a dead woman, and tried to resuscitate them early Tuesday morning, according to a sheriff’s report.

The 39-year-old called deputies to the parking lot of Hilton Head Cabanas, 32 South Forest Beach Drive, at 1:49 a.m., saying he had just tried to perform CPR on a dead woman, according to the sheriff’s report.

They arrived to find him talking to a large bale of pine straw.

When asked where the woman was, he pointed to the straw, the report stated.

…..