ExitRamp

Last U.S. WWI veteran passes

2011-02-28T10:34:00.004-05:00

Just since I was covering this for a while, Frank Buckles has passed, aged 110.Link

Publicly-Owned Utilities and the Recession

2009-04-29T00:45:00.003-05:00

I have already commented on the local water utility and their interesting ideas as to what constitutes "investing in the community". However, today I discovered they decided to kick it up a notch.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reports today that, as the third-costliest water utility in the state of PA, they are petitioning the PUC for a rate hike. Of almost 14%. Which would bring us up to second-costliest!

They suggest that it's because they've invested *so* much money into the local infrastructure. But there's also a completely separate charge on the bill for "Distribution Systems Improvement". And rates got hiked 9% in 2007.

I'll have more on this later, but I mainly just wanted to get the links bookmarked for handy reference.

Write the PUC and your state representatives, dammit.

Hershey's sending more jobs to Mexico

2009-02-22T23:58:00.003-05:00

As a Pennsylvania citizen, I've always had a soft spot for Hershey's chocolate.

Turns out the relentless flow of globalization is causing more jobs to get shipped down to Mexico.

Boycott Peppermint Patties, 5th Avenue, Zagnut and Jolly Ranchers.

Production of York Peppermint Patties and other candy brands is coming to an end at The Hershey Co. plant in Reading.

After 23 years in Reading, the chocolate maker is closing the plant Friday and moving production to a new factory it has built in Monterey, Mexico. Hershey (nyse: HSY - news - people ) says it will mean the loss of about 260 jobs in the southeastern Pennsylvania city.

The plant also makes 5th Avenue and Zagnut candy bars and Jolly Rancher hard candies.

Boxee Box

2009-02-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

Posted for convenient reference.

Link

Krugman on the Fed and "Clap Louder"

2009-01-03T17:02:00.002-05:00

Krugman posts today about how in 2005 the Fed were not listening to any negative news relating to securitization.

I'm rather astonished by the sheer magnitude of the groupthink that must have been happening in policy-making circles during the go-go years.

I'm an IT guy by trade, so it's not my job to worry about economics/finance/public policy, but I am an interested observer. There seemed to be an awful lot of flashing lights and alerts out there for quite some time. There was also long time when you could both believe that Roubini was over-the-top yet still be very concerned about the future.

I'm sure that most Fed members were probably not visiting Calculated Risk every day, and I'm not even sure if the blog existed then. But way back in that same year, The Economist came right out and called "the biggest bubble in history", specifically in housing, but it also suggested that we had a Global bubble across all assets, IIRC. This is The Economist, so it's not that you had to be a Bush-hating fringe Lefty to read this.

This whole situation reminds me of the old saw: "Experience is the ability to recognize that you've made this same mistake before."

Hank Paulson - Hits it out of the Park

2008-12-30T20:55:00.004-05:00

My boy Hank really delivered in an interview reported today, as we head into the scary leg of the Global Financial Crisis.

Paulson says U.S. lacked tools to tackle crisis: report

Hmm....I'd have to argue the administration had quite a few tools running the show, sir.

He said even after Congress in October approved the $700 billion troubled asset relief program, the U.S. still lacked tools such as an adequate special bankruptcy regime for non-bank financial firms.

"We're dealing with something that is really historic and we haven't had a playbook," he said.

So, I get it that $700B wouldn't buy enough tools. I'm sure they don't sell these things at Harbor Freight. But, dude...you didn't have a playbook? Aren't you...like...the coach?

"The reason it has been difficult is first of all, these excesses have been building up for many, many years. Secondly, we had a hopelessly outdated global architecture and regulatory authorities...in the U.S.," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Ah, yes...The old "outdated regulatory authorities". I recall endless discussions about the quaint, Depression-era regulations while Congress was dismantling Glass-Steagall and enabling wholesale financial deregulation.

The article delivers the Money Quote towards the end:

"But we have been for some time in the frustrating situation of understanding much more than the public or even the Congress understood in terms of the magnitude of what we are facing."

Um...yeah. That's why by October of last year, I felt the need to post my year-end summary of Paulson On-Message.

Heckuva job, Hank. Enjoy your millions.

Barack Wins

2008-11-05T00:40:00.002-05:00

Holy fucking shit!

It's been a long time coming. Amazing job for the Obama staff.

Awesomeness.

China to Slow Petrol Imports

2008-08-26T23:48:00.003-05:00

FT via Naked Capitalism, we are alerted to the fact that China is to stop its massive purchases of refined petroleum products. Now that the Olympics are over (and the stockpiles are full) the Big Buy is coming to an end.

Quick! Snatch up that marked-down Hummer, stat!

China’s state-owned oil companies are likely to stop imports of refined products such as diesel and petrol next month after a nine-month buying spree that has left stockpiles overflowing, one of Asia’s largest refiners said.
...
Since late last year, the two Chinese state-owned refiners had been importing increasing amounts of diesel, peaking at 960,000 tonnes in June, and the country became a net petrol importer for the first time in May.
...
However, much of the imported petrol and diesel has been stockpiled rather than consumed.

“The state refiners’ stockpiles are so full that they have been reselling the stuff,” FPCC said.

FDIC seeks Treasury Funds

2008-08-26T23:24:00.003-05:00

Hmm...surely this ain't good. FDIC seems to think it's gonna need more cash in the future. IndyMac started the hurt, now what's next? (From WSJ)

Probably good for a 200 point DOW pop tomorrow.

FDIC Weighs Tapping Treasury as Funds Run Low

WASHINGTON -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Tuesday her agency might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures.

Ms. Bair said the borrowing could be needed to cover short-term cash-flow pressures caused by reimbursing depositors immediately after the failure of a bank. The borrowed money would be repaid once the assets of that failed bank are sold.

Note, this comes hot on the heels of the release of the release of the updated "Problem Banks" list from the FDIC earlier today. The list increased from 90 to 117.

Ugliness keeps on coming, but nothing seems to happen...

Random Information - SOS 100 years old.

2008-06-30T22:32:00.003-05:00

1. Today (well, July 1st 2008, so depends on when I hit "publish") is the 100th anniversary of the adoption of S.O.S. as the universal symbol of distress. As is discussed in the linked article, and has been made clear in countless histories about the event, it was still a novel thing nearly 4 years later when the Titanic went down, and it appears that it was that event that truly cemented it as the standard.

2. Via Kottke, some Euro dude celebrates Euro 2008 by kicking some fine goals off random urbanscape.

I definitely appreciate the skill, the fact that he seems to enjoy screwing with the cops, and the use of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" as the background music. 5 minutes of asskicking good times.

3. In WWI history, today is the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. As noted in the wikipedia entry:

(It) was among the largest battles of the First World War. With more than 1.5 million casualties, it is also one of the bloodiest military operations recorded.

Let us not forget.

Here I come to save the day....

2008-06-25T23:43:00.003-05:00

Once again, it appears that the Senator from the Great State of Wisconsin is all that stands between us and the destruction of Civil Liberties as we know it.

The Russinator and Chris Dodd are planning on filibustering the FISAbomination.

As has been said here before, the idea of immunity for a price is ridiculous. Thanks to Sens. Feingold and Dodd for preserving the Constitution.

Ice, Ice Baby

2008-06-19T23:14:00.003-05:00

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?
[tap, tap- SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111]

Um...hey. So, yeah. I guess it's been a while.

Just wanted to do a quick rundown of what's new and exciting today.

The newly-arrived Phoenix Mars explorer appears to have discovered ice!! They can tell because some little white chunks appear to have sublimated. And salt just doesn't do that. Eagerly awaiting more robust confirmation.

Also, the 6th disembodied foot to have washed up on the shore of British Columbia in recent weeks appears to be a hoax. Thank heavens for that. 5 random feet, we can deal with, but 6? That's just crazy, man.

That's it. Talk to you in a few months.

Mmmm....More Open Beer

2008-05-13T13:39:00.001-05:00

(via /.)

BDS, this one is for you...more open source beer!

"Three years ago we discussed an open source brewing project in which a Danish brewer made his beer recipes available for public consumption and alteration. The concept has taken off, first with the 'Free Beer Project' in Denmark and now with Flying Dog's 'Collaborator' Doppelbock in the US, which was created via input from home brewers across the world. One version of the Collaborator is commercially brewed and available for purchase (and is darned tasty), but you can download the same recipe and labels, brew it yourself, and submit your mods back to the project."

Ponticelli - Last French WWI Vet Passes

2008-03-17T23:30:00.005-05:00

Messr. Lazare Ponticelli, the last surviving French WWI veteran, passed away Wed. Mar 12th, at age 110. Au Revior et merci Messr. Ponticelli.

Mr Ponticelli, who lived with his daughter in a southern suburb of Paris, had initially refused a government offer of a state funeral, the AFP news agency reported.

But he later decided to accept "in the name of all those who died, men and women", during WWI.

Further:

Ponticelli joined the Foreign Legion during the war and served in the Argonne region of forest, rivers and lakes in northeast France, digging burial pits and trenches.

"At the beginning, we barely knew how to fight and had hardly any ammunition. Every time that one of us died, we fell silent and waited for our turn," he said in the 2005 interview.

He also recalled running into no man's land to save a wounded comrade stuck in barbed wire.

"He was shouting, 'Come and get me, I've severed a leg.' The stretcher-bearers didn't dare go out. I couldn't bear it any longer," he said.

When Italy entered the war in 1915, Ponticelli was called up to fight with an Italian Alpine regiment. He tried to hide, but was found and sent to fight the Austrian army.

He described moments of fraternity with enemy Austrian soldiers.

"They gave us tobacco, and we gave them loaves of bread. No one was shooting any more. The headquarters found out, and moved us to a tougher zone," he told Le Monde.

He described the joy in receiving letters from a milkmaid who "adopted" him when he was serving in Italy. He couldn't read at the time, so comrades read them to him, according to a biography by the Versailles veterans' office.

The Italian President Giorgio Napolitano expressed condolences "in the name of all Italians" to the veteran's daughter, Jeannine Desbaucheron.

By fighting first for France and then for Italy, Ponticelli "offered an admirable example of an elevated sense of duty and dedication to both his adoptive country and his country of birth," Napolitano wrote in a message to her.

God Bless, Mr. Ponticelli, and Fare Thee Well.

WGA Strike Officially Over

2008-02-27T23:31:00.004-05:00

I missed this one last night, so here's the dope. The Writer's Guild has overwhelmingly voted to approve the new contract. The Strike is officially over. As has been noted elsewhere, it was certainly not an ideal contract, but the writers made some serious wins and made it clear that organized labor ain't dead yet.

Props to all involved, and I hope everyone is back to work pronto.

Today, it is our pleasure to inform you that members of the Writers Guilds of America, East and West, have voted to ratify the MBA contract with 93.6% approval. With a total of 4,060 votes cast, the tally was 3,802 to 258. These numbers reaffirm the tremendous level of support and commitment our membership has continuously demonstrated over these last few crucial months.

China - Shifting Economic Winds

2008-02-27T23:05:00.002-05:00

There are two interesting stories on China's place in the world of manufacturing tonight. Since Americans have spent a good chunk of the new millenium crapping our pants over the emergence of China and India, it seems worthy to note the emerging trends.

First off, this article notes that due to inflationary pressures, China has begun raising the minimum wages across the country. It states that the Guangdong province is rasing wages by up to 18%, and and that the minimum wage in Tibet went up by almost 50%.

The wage increases, aimed at relieving food and other price pressures, could instead fuel inflation, analysts said. Higher wages are also likely to raise prices of U.S. imports from China, and possibly reduce China's attraction as the world's manufacturing center.

In a related story from NPR this evening, we are advised that the booming dynamics of China's manufacturing sector in the last decade has resulted in China no longer being the cheapest player on the block for manufacturers.

As profit margins disappear, some companies are even moving to lower-cost countries such as Vietnam. In fact, according to China's state-run press, 1,000 shoe factories closed in Guangdong province in 2007.

(....)

Samuel Kuo, says he couldn't afford to pay rising labor costs. Other factories have been pinched by increasing costs for materials such as glass, paint and steel pipe.

" 'Made in China' isn't cheap anymore," Kuo says. "The low value-added products will have a hard time surviving in China … because the costs here are too high."

Now, I have nothing personal against the Chinese people, but as an American who has watched manufacturing move relentlessly from here to there, it's certainly been a cause of concern. And clearly, this will not stop the trend, nor does it mean that companies wont simply move jobs to Vietnam, or wherever the cheapest labor is located at the moment. Additionally, as I understand it, there are still billions of impoverished Chinese living in the rural regions, so this new trend also has its downside.

As the "made in china" trend emerged over the last decade, I recalled how the same dynamic seemed to have occurred in Japan in the 80s. These trends cannot continue indefinitely before the economics eventually change the course of the game.

But it is also hard not to feel some relief that the relentless Chinese manufacturing juggernaut is becoming less...well...relentless.

Quotations, Citations, and Dave Barry

2008-02-20T01:20:00.005-05:00

Us damned librul elites strike again....

Long story short: I was searching for some quote attributions, and google let me down.

Meanwhile, from bartleby.com, while searching on "Dave Barry"...

(Just click the frakkin' link, okay? You'll be quizzed on it later.)

...Why 3 results? If there were none, I could easily see writing it off on the Liberal Elite Media. If I had to choose only 3, these are certainly amusing, but I wouldn't call them "Dave's 3 best quotes, EVA!!!1!!11!"

More interesting, is the attribution for citation 5664.

ATTRIBUTION: Dave Barry (b. 1940s), U.S. humorist. Dave Barry Turns 40, ch. 2, Crown (1990).

The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press.

"Born 1940s"? They quoted him, but couldn't be bothered to verify his birthdate to within the decade? I can even understand that they were hedging their bet on the fact that the book was titled "Dave Barry Turns 40" and the publishing date was 1990. I'm sure a lot of famous people celebrate their "big four-oh" on their 45th birthday, so it was probably a safe bet. And there's always the publishing cycle, of course. But if you were cash- and employee-stapped, and just did the math, you might come up wiht a different "circa" number.

But, surely, even cash-strapped, small-town Columbia University had enough staff to competently verify the birthday of Dave-freaking-Barry.

At least if they're going to bother to quote him, no?

Sincerely,

mergenow (b. 20th c.-ish)

Paulson: Economy should dodge recession

2008-02-14T01:49:00.003-05:00

In my ongoing efforts to document our Treasury Secretary and his "Clap Louder" message, here's our newest installment. (I'm quoting this more than I probably should because this only shows up on y!, and they are notorious for expiring stories.)

Our boy, Hank "Subprime is Contained" Paulson tells us today, and I quote the headline, that: " Paulson says economy should dodge recession"

Admittedly, the headline is not substantiated by the text of the article, but I'm quoting this for posterity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is experiencing a "significant" housing market downturn but the economy is fundamentally sound and should avoid recession, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will tell Congress on Thursday.
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"The U.S. economy is fundamentally strong, diverse and resilient, yet after years of unsustainable home price appreciation, our economy is undergoing a significant and necessary housing correction," Paulson said in remarks prepared for delivery at a congressional hearing, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

"The housing correction, high energy prices, and capital market turmoil are weighing on current economic growth," he said. "I believe that our economy will continue to grow, although its pace in coming quarters will be slower than what we have seen in recent years."

Conan on his guitar on strike

2008-02-14T01:43:00.003-05:00

Here's Conan O'Brien doing a vid during the Writers' strike. First half is kind of "meh."

It picks up in the last two or three minutes. BDS, this is for you. We're talking Rock Band, Beastie Boys, "Creep" and Edith Bunker. Huttah.

Catch-up Diary

2008-02-14T00:04:00.003-05:00

1. Over on Kos, diarist Grand Moff Texan makes some points that aren't automatically clear to a lot of the Dem party establishment:

I learned that lesson. Obama learned that lesson. Have you? You can't get "wonk" through Jabba the Crowley any more than you can play a Bach chorale on the kazoo. So, excuse the f--k out of me while I go play "Tequila" on my kazoo. You can stand over there and make snarky comments about how it should be polyphonic, octotonic, and polyrhythmic.

But no one's going to shake their ass to your jejune sniping, Fauntleroy.

2. Besides the progressing Obama landslide yesterday, the other big news was how Donna Edwards kicked incumbent DINO Al Wynn to the curb in the MD Primary. Yeah, that's right Washington establishment, we're coming after you! More democrats and better democrats, as they say on the internets.

3. In other Liberal Conspiracy news, the Writers' Guild has voted to lift the strike, with +92% in favor. They vote on the contract ratification in 10 days, and it sounds like the odds are that it will be a go. It ain't a perfect contract, but they got some decent concessions for having gone on strike. Rock on, Writers/Actors/All associated individuals.

That's it for the moment. Enjoy.

New Favorite Band - Architecture in Helsinki

2008-02-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'm probably late to the party on this one, but I just tonight discovered my newest favorite band* (of the moment [I'm fickle]).

The band in question is Architecture in Helsinki. Contrary to the intuitive expectation, they're not from Finland, but rather Australia (at least some of them). It looks like they started out as a worthy shoe-gaze emo band, but they managed to improve on that. Their newer songs tend to range from an intriguing blend of Modest Mouse and Talking Heads, to an interesting mix of Funky 80's-technopop, with a brass section. I've spent the last few years looking for someone who makes some *new* music, that isn't directly derivative of their influences. These dudes and dudettes are it, beyotches!

I'm totally loving the following tunes, in order of kickin' videos:

"Heart it races" (not sure why, but it reminds me of Midnight Oil, in the "Diesel and Dust" era)

"Do the Whirlwind" (with awesome Sega Genesis graphics)

"Hold Music" (reminds me of the "OK Go" video)

P.S.: While researching for this post, I discovered that Peter Garrett, the singer for Midnight Oil, was named Environment Minister after the Labor Party won the recent elections.

*Johnathan Coulter still retains this blog's Most-Favored Artist status, however.

The Sad State of the American Consumer

2008-02-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

Wow, man. It doesn't seem all that long ago that companies would write up bold, sweeping mission and vision statments to express their commitment to top-notch customer service. Oh sure, the ones that employed the most flowering rhetoric were usually the ones who sucked the most and were trying to paper over that awful fact, but at least they put some effort into the process.

I just got my water bill, and let me assure you that in this Republican Era, those days are dead, buried, and have weeds growing around the headstone.

Let me read to you from their "Customer Charter".

We will: ..treat (our customers) with dignity and respect;

WhaaaaaAAA--? Shouldn't that be an assumed given? You actually need to write that into your Customer Charter?? (and not some internal employee creed or mission statement) So, I'm to be afforded not only dignity, but respect as well? I feel so humbled.

I recall in the late 90s that companies routinely promised to provide "exceptional customer service." Now I'm promised that my utility company will "exceed my expectations." Well, they have managed to successfully lower the bar on my expectations, so I guess that shouldn't be hard to do.

It gets better when you read the enclosed "Investing in Our Communities" brochure. Before I opened the pamphlet, I expected that they might be funding after-school tutoring programs and kicking back some lucre towards fixing up public playgrounds or cleaning up highways.

Oh, how wrong I was.

How, exactly, are they investing in my community? By performing routine maintenance and upgrades on their own installed pipes and facilities!! Unlike other companies, they refer to "Maintenance of our Depreciable Capital Assets" as "Giving it back to the Community"! Remember that 100+ year-old critical water main that busted during the flooding last November, and resulted in low water pressure (for me), and complete lack of water for hundreds of customers for about a week? They didn't replace that because as a public utility they are legally obligated to do so -- they did it because they care!!!

In case I haven't conveyed the full insult and injury, here, they even go on to explicitly point out that this "investment in the community" is funded by a special fee that is part of my monthly bill.

So, let's hear it for My Socially-Responsible Water Company. And more specifically, for me, for paying my own water bill; because I'm doing it for My Community!! And The Future!!

1-31-07: Never Forget!

2008-02-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

In Memoriam....

Floridian Repub Results

2008-01-29T22:53:00.000-05:00

Come on, y'all...are you the Republican Party or the Republican't Party?

Apparently, with only 15% of the Florida vote, Rudy has followed the lead of Granpa Fred and bailed on his Presidential aspirations. He's tossing his endorsements against The Freakin' Mormon. Ya big authoritarian wuss!

(I now post a link to a video of The Clash's "Rudie Can't Fail". Just substitute "Can" for "Can't" and it tells a timely story. Link.)

Oh well...it would have been nice if the Republicant's had spent more time and money on internecine infighting, but such are the breaks. I guess we now have to watch MyCane!* battle it out with Mittens, while Huckleberry and Ron Paul try to catch up. As a bonus, we get Billary tossing out vaguely racist comments against Obama.

Give me Edwards, or give me Gore! That's what I say.

"Meh!", I say..."Meh!"

******************************************

* Wilford Brimley v. Chuck Noriss, Fer Real, man...WTF??!! Way to court the 80's Quaker Oats demo, Straight-talker!

Big Audio Dynamite

2008-01-24T05:44:00.001-05:00

The Globe, yeah...

It's like 1990 all over again.

"It's 1 AM -- let's go out to a RAVE. It's hotter than a MI-CRO-wave!!!"
(Note: redirect, no apparent embed option)

Also, hippychick, yeah.

(Update: 2008-01-30: Big Audio Dynamite ~= Mick Jones from The Clash, for those who do not know. Soho just rocks.)

Random Observations

2008-01-22T02:25:00.000-05:00

1. BDS, this is for you, Man.

Several years ago, BDS and I discussed the idea of doing a wacky skit, in order to achieve "InterTubes Fame". I was intent about the concept that my character would be the intense-but-clueless dude who could not understand why all my friends couldn't appreciate how BADASS my "Hello Kitty" Tattoo was. Like...because of the irony, and all.

BDS is a huge Star Wars fan, with (I belive, correct me if I'm wrong) major Vader tats. Today, however, the singularity has been achieved.

2. Speaking of Hello Kitty, I wasn't blogging much when this came out, but for those who missed it, I present the MOST AWESOME CONSUMER ITEM of 2007!!!! The "Hello Kitty"-themed assault rifle!!!

It's an AK-47!! With Hello Kitty styling!!

You can't get any more wrong while still being so right!!! I need one of these, if only to show off the "hand-crocheted shoulder-stock muffler" w/ HK theme!!!

3. In Northeastern PA, it appears that it is no longer possible to buy a "Firm" toothbrush. I didn't exactly do an exhaustive search, but after checking three places, I gave up and bought a multi-pack off amazon.com. 6 years-worth of teeth-brushes in one order...Dag, yo!

I find "Medium" brushes to be wussy and unsatisfying and unworthy of my time.

Rout 2008

2008-01-22T01:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, this has been noted elsewhere, but the global stock markets ain't looking too good right now. As of this writing, looking at Yahoo! Finance, every major global stock index is taking a serious spanking. Also, for much of the (EST) evening, the Dow futures have been running around the -500 territory.

This was probably the case back in 2000-2001, but I didn't use Yahoo back in the day, so I don't know. (old_guy)When *I* was a kid, regular people didn't have access to live stock market data!! We had to *pay* for it, dad-gummit!! Nowadays, you can walk down any street and pluck stock market data off a tree like it was an *onion*!(/old_guy)

Europe:

Asia:

Furthermore, you've got a lot of "In-the-know" people freaking the Eff out lately:

Pimco’s McCulley Calls for Emergency Rate Cut

The O.C. Register's Jon Lansner shares an email from Pimco's Paul McCulley:

“Sometimes when you are ill, you make an appointment with your doctor; other times, you go straight to the emergency room. Now is an other time. ... Time is of the essence. What needs to be done needs to be done. Now."

Wow. Some people are really scared. (Link: Calculated Risk)

And since "The 'R' Word" is now not only *speakable*, but being openly discussed and the "Great Depression Comparisons" are coming faster and furiouser, I'm a wee bit concerned.

More Happy Talk

From billionaire Mort Zuckerman.

Zuckerman: I don't think it's an exaggeration. It's an understatement. You've heard me say here I think we are facing the worst financial crunch and crisis since the Great Depression. You have the entire banking system now that is virtually frozen and there are not just the sub-prime mortgage thing. (Link: Eschaton (Atrios' Joint)

I guess everybody decided to take their New Year's Resolution seriously this year: ("I will no longer believe the Party-Lines about how the current Global Economy is truly sustainable!")

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to stockpile some guns, gold bullion and canned goods.

WWI Vet - Follow-up - Louis De Cazenave

2008-01-21T23:59:00.000-05:00

The BBC has followed-up on the original reporting of the death of Louis De Cazenave, who was until this past weekend one of the two surviving French WWI Veterans. The follow-up gives a bit more of a biography to Messr. De Cazenave. It sounds like he experienced first-hand some of the worst that "The World War" had to offer.

In April 1917, assigned to the Fifth Senegalese Rifles, he fought in one of the most disastrous French actions of the war, at the Chemin des Dames, during the Second Battle of the Aisne.

...

Forewarned, the Germans dug in so well that the creeping artillery barrage ahead of the French advance did little to dislodge them.

Across the battlefront the French lost 40,000 men on the first day.

Some reports say the advancing French bleated in mocking acknowledgement that they were lambs to the slaughter.

The article, though brief, is well worth reading.

Au revoir, Monsieur.

(Messr. De Cazenave's English Wikipedia page here. Original exitramp discussion here. Or just scroll down an inch or so.)

One of Two Surviving French WWI Vets Passes

2008-01-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

The BBC reports that Louis De Cazenave, one of two surviving WWI veterans, has passed away in his sleep. He was 110.

Mr de Cazenave, born on 16 October 1897 signed up in 1916 and served with a number of different infantry and artillery regiments, including the fifth Senegalese battalion.
After the liberation of France and the end of the war he returned to civilian life and became a railwayman. He married and had three sons before retiring at the age of 41.

The article reports that he fought in the Battle of the Somme. His passing means that Lazare Ponticelli, aged 110, is now France's sole surviving veteran of the War to End All Wars.

Peace, Louis.

Colber Report - Lou Dobbs - PMP

2008-01-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

The "PMP" in the title refers not to "Project Management Professional", but rather "Piss My Pants".

This clip is rather hard to explain, due to what appears to be post-interview editing magic, but I'll let Paul K. do his best:

This has to rank up there as one of the strangest moments in recent television history. We have Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, playing off-kilter right-wing talkshow host "Stephen Colbert", who in turn is playing Esteban, himself some sort of Colbert-created Mexican talkshow show, interviewing CNN host Lou "Stronger U.S. Borders" Dobbs

Nothing against The Daily Show, which I still love, but Steven has really taken the Faux News thing to another level.

Housekeeping Linkfest

2008-01-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

This year has certainly started out as a crappy one from the financial and/or economics perspective. Markets and spirits are lower than a snake's toenails.

Turning away from that, however, I wanted to take a moment to point out the following:
1. Yesterday was the FIFTH (Yep! With a 5!) Trogday. I certainly can't believe it's been that long. Happy anniversary, big guy.
2. Today is the 89th anniversary of the start of Prohibition. Let us never forget this dark time in our history.

Amen.

"Common Sense" 232nd Anniversary

2008-01-10T23:46:00.000-05:00

Today is the 232nd anniversary of the publishing of "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine.

Foundation of the Nation, y'all!

Happy Anniversary.

President Carter via The Onion

2008-01-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

Former President Carter would probably not deliver this message himself, but it would be awesome if he did.

I Got What America Needs Right Here.

But who comes to me, huh? Fucking nobody. Why ask old Jimmy anything? What the fuck could he know about peace in the Middle East? It's not like he fucking won the Nobel Peace Prize for that shit. You myopic pricks. Back in '79, I sat Sadat and Begin right down and made those two dicklicks shake hands. It was beautiful—I had all the pieces lined up and I smiled and waved in my best fucking suit and tie right there on TV. And what do you do, you pieces of shit? You screw the whole goddamn pooch.

Cocksuckers.

Oh, what's that I hear? The weather's all screwy? You got a global warming problem? Boo-fucking-hoo! I was telling you morons to turn off your lights and unplug all your shit at night to conserve energy in 19-fuckin'-75, for chrissake.

United Artists strikes Interim deal with WGA?

2008-01-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

It's being reported on the UnitedHollywood site as well as on Variety that United Artists has struck an interim deal with the WGA. Also, the Golden Globes are cancelled.

The pressure is on, moguls.

Iowa Caucus

2008-01-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

How small is your cock? Is it small enough to fuckabee?

Bwahahahah!!!!!!!!

Wow, Obama beats Hill, and the nutjob bible-banger tops out the Mittster.

As the BushAdmin would say, "Nobody could have predicted this outcome..."

New Hampshire should be interesting.

UPDATE 2008-01-22: Somehow, I started this post with a "cock" joke, and then proceeded to toss out a few lines about the "caucus", but missed the opportunity to deliver any related quips. As your devoted commentator, I apologize sincerely.

And the Band Played "Waltzing Mathilda"....

2008-01-01T02:44:00.000-05:00

Another WWI hommage, Aussie-style.... (via Eschaton)

Remember the war of your great-grandparents (depending on your age...) The lessons of the past keep getting learned over and over again.

Previous WWI Vet posts here.

Happy New Years 2008!!

2008-01-01T00:12:00.000-05:00

Yeah, we're lame this year, and we stayed home.

Huttah!

Additionally, Quarashi..........

2007-12-29T06:54:00.000-05:00

It's late...what can one expect???

They are Icelandic...how often does one get to write that clause about killer musicians?

At the Drive-In - One Armed Scissor

2007-12-29T06:42:00.000-05:00

Just because it's on YouTube.....

The 90's so rocked..

Liz Phair - Supernova

2007-12-29T06:31:00.000-05:00

Filed Under: General awesomeness........

Housing Bubble - Continued

2007-12-29T04:30:00.001-05:00

If you read this blog back in the early days of aught-five, the current credit crisis should come as no surprise:

According to today's NY Times, we are alerted to the fact that in 2007, $1 Trillion (12% of the nation's mortgage debt) in ARM's will kick into adjustable rates. How many people are truly prepared for the upswing in their mortgage payments that will come due then?

Let's also note that we quoted The Economist in calling it: "the biggest bubble in history".

Let us further note that yesterday, Nouriel Roubini, who was on top of this from back in the day, whipped out the I-told-you-so line:

Following the meltdown in new home sales - down a whopping 9% in November alone based on data published today – it is clear that this is not going to be the worst housing recession in the last 50 years as I predicted; it is rather going to be the worst housing recession since the Great Depression or, better, the worst housing recession ever in US history.

(Note that a 9% "annual" decline in sales would be awful...he appears to be talking "monthly" decline. Super-double-ouch!)

Happy New Years, y'all!

Update 2007-12-29-04:58: Admittedly, my call on the Iranian War of 2007 was narrowly averted. So take that for what it's worth.

And the best part is, now we'll have freed up a bunch of soldiers who can be deployed into the 2007 War on Iran! w00t!

Phish - Down With Disease

2007-12-29T02:44:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of Wendy, I was a newly-minted fan of Phish when this album came out.

It still manages to stir the jaded soul...

Bouncing balls in the crowd, bouncing band-members on trampolines, and fishman with the snorkel-looking thing...does it get better than this???

Bhutto Assassination - Spillover

2007-12-29T02:25:00.000-05:00

I neglected to comment on the conveniently-timed assassination of Benazir Bhutto, coming as it did just weeks before an conflicted electorate was to go to the polls in Pakistan. I blame my slacktardery on the failed policies of the Clinton Administration.

Today, of course, the Pakistani government declared that her assassination was the handiwork of al Qaeda.

“We have the evidence that al-Qaida and Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto,” Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said.

The government also reported that Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when her head slammed against her car during a suicide attack — not from bullet wounds.

Certainly, the shifting stories of how she died (bullet, bomb, "hit her head"), not at all complicated by any political motivations, it is clear that this is not a simple politically-motivated assassination, but rather a devious al Qaeda plot.

As luck would have it, we now discover that the government is freaking over repurcussions spilling over into Afghanistan. Thank you, BushAdmin!!!

Technorati Tags: bhutto, pakistan

Mystery Solved! - Korean Rudolph Traffic

2007-12-29T01:22:00.000-05:00

Aha!

As my longtime reader knows, for about a year now, I've been getting pretty much daily traffic from Korean search engine naver.com. on searches for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". This was perplexing, but lacking any written Korean-language skills, and any real motivation, I failed to figure out why this might be. Judging by the exitramp posts I found on Naver, it looked like the rolled out a blog search in 2005, and just indexed every major blog platform around that time, and exitramp got indexed. (Original Rudolph post here)

"But why", I wondered, "Why were so many RoK-ans searching for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?" Luckily, this cold, rainy December eve gave me the opportunity and the motivation to find the answer.

Turns out that there's a superstar cutie-pie pop sensation, BoA who did a cover of the classic holiday tune. I can't find the album on her wikipedia discography, but you can hear a sample here.

Well, mystery solved, BoA is now officially my favorite RoK musician.

Technorati Tags: BoA, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, naver.com

(Late) Merry Christmas Post

2007-12-26T02:46:00.001-05:00

We had a busy night of meeting with the various familial groups, so I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and etc.

Since we're reaching a critical juncture at which our surviving WWI vets are diminishing significantly, I just want to throw out a special Happy Holidays to any Veterans of the Great War. This is especially driven by the 93rd anniversary of the Christmas Truce.

Here's a shout-out to all those who have served their country in times of war, and times of need.

WWI Vet Passes Away

2007-12-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

J. Russel Coffee, one of three known living US WWI vets, has passed away at age 109. As the article and fark submitter noted, he drove a car until he was 104.

Since I've established a history of tracking the lives of the remaining WWI vets, I figured it was appropriate to note. I've always been interested in WWI, since it seems like WWII kind of pushed it out of the national attention.

As the article notes:

The other known surviving American soldiers are Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va., and Harry Landis, of Sun City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs Department.

He was the last Ohio WWI veteran, and had never seen action since he enlisted a month before the world ended.

Peace, J. Russel.

Technorati Tag: WWI Veterans

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2007-12-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

There is a bite to the air, and the first snow has fallen, and there's a magical feeling of expectation in everyone's hearts.

Yes, once again, it's that time of year:

Time for the Pentagon to announce that if the current conditions in Iraq are maintained, we should be able to begin drawing down troops next year. And it feels like it was just yesterday that I put away my "Bring Home the Troops" wreath.

The United States now has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. Under the current plan, the Pentagon would pull five brigades out by July, reducing the force by about 20,000 combat troops plus support personnel.

Gates has said he would like to see another five brigades taken out of Iraq in the second half of 2008 as well.

That would leave about 10 combat brigades, or about 100,000 U.S. troops, in Iraq by the end of the Bush administration.

Reading that, it seems that General Casey's 2005 "worst case scenario" of "well over 100,000" troops over there in 2009 is more or less playing out like a well-oiled machine. I only started this blog in 2005, and this appears to be my first "sometime next year" drawdown post. Recall that in the 2004 election year, calls for bringing home the troops were tantamount to treason.

Since there seems very little reason to assume that I wont be making this post next year, let's officially consider this my First Annual "Troop Drawdown Next Year Announcement" Post. Merry Drawdown Announcement, y'all. Sigh....

Technorati Tags: iraq troop drawdown

Lakota Nation Secedes

2007-12-21T03:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, seriously, what's going on here?

The Lakota Tribes have now withdrawn from 150-year-old treaties with the US and are claiming secession.

"We are now a free country and independent of the United States of America," Means said in a telephone interview. "This is all completely legal."Means said a Lakota delegation on Monday delivered a statement of "unilateral withdrawal" from the United States to the U.S. State Department in Washington.

Just to make things better we are told that they are in talks with other beleaguered nativist minorities in other countries:

Meanwhile, the delegation has delivered copies of the letter to the embassies of Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile and South Africa. "We're asking for recognition," Means said, adding that Ireland and East Timor are "very interested" in the declaration.

I'm not familiar with the situation, but holy crap, what's going on here? The article goes into some detail about the situation, but not in any meaningful depth that would enable us to understand.

Currently researching exactly what pushed the Lakota Nation over the edge at this point in time...

Technorati Tags: lakota nation secession

Radiohead - "In Rainbows" Arrives

2007-12-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

So I just received my copy of the premium "physical" copy of In Rainbows. Since I've been listening to the downloads for months now, and I currently do not have a turntable, this fact is a bit anticlimactic.

However, I will confidently assert, without even having seen the competition, that they are a shoo-in for the 2007 Confounding Artsy Packaging of the Year Award.

Never before, has one group gone through such exquisite lengths to present high quality glossy photos of splatters and blobs in such a glorious fashion.

The above comments are meant to be only slightly-serious, as I think it's freaking awesome to have an actual LP jacket that's all jacked-up and badass.

Technorati Tags: radiohead, in rainbows

Dodd is the D00d!!!

2007-12-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

Holy freaking crap! Senator Dodd's filibuster has prompted Harry Reid to shelve the FISA update bill until next year! Telco immunity for domestic spying is not the done deal I thought it was this morning.

I was busy all day today, and what updates I saw were not terribly promising. I'd basically accepted that the filibuster would happen, and eventually fizzle, and we'd have to figure out how to fix it '09.

Dodd has re-invigorated my worn-out activist self, y'all! I had started to assume that we were going to have to hope for a Dem landslide in '08, and fix the mess from there. I now believe that something can be accomplished in the next year. Serious props to Senator Dodd, and Sens. Feingold and Kennedy for explicitly supporting this effort beforehand.

Sidenote: For those who missed it, The Russinator has a post on TPMCafe today explaining his take on the situation.

So, in closing, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone. Santa Dodd has come to town.

Technorati Tags: fisa, telco immunity, dodd, russ feingold

Writer's Guild Strike Update

2007-12-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

First, let's start with teh funnay. Here, an AMPTP (The organization representing the various Big Media companies) member explains their offer to the writers for everybody's benefit.

Okay, now the serious. Apparently, the studios do not seem to have been coming to the negotiating table in good faith. All of the evidence strongly seems to suggest that they're basically trying to starve the strikers out so that they'll accept whatever crap offer the media companies toss at them. Remember that the people affected by this strike are not just the writers, but all the associated tradespeople and support staff that keep the shows running.

More tellingly, according to United Hollywood, the AMPTP recently employed the assistance of a crisis management firm, Fabiani and Lehane. According to the WGA author of the post, they are being secured to help refine Big Media's PR push regarding the strike. Some quick google research seems to support the idea that this would be a task at which they would be well-suited.

The strange and annoying bit is that Fabiani & Lehane have a long history of working with some of the big recent Democratic campaigns, including Clinton/Gore, Wes Clark, and, even more surprisingly, a recent stint working with the Studio Actors Guild. Now, they appear to be working for the Studios in what the WGA author's post credibly argues looks like a strike-breaking gig.

Lacking any conclusive proof, it's hard to say, but the United Hollywood link proposes a Call to Action to pressure Clinton, Edwards and Obama to lean on these major Democratic operatives to step back and/or hold them accountable. I pass this information on to those who would be motivated to act.

Technorati tag: wga strike

Gabe and Max's Internet Thing

2007-12-07T22:01:00.001-05:00

For whatever reason, I think this is the funniest damned thing I've seen on the Tubes in a long time. The humor is very Homestar Runner-ish.

As they say, it's A TOTAL SYSTEM!!!!!!111

A New Hope - Help Us, Hank!

2007-12-06T21:02:00.001-05:00

Tanta over at Calculated Risk has analyzed the "Hope Now" Plan and has put her eminent expertise to fine use. Her initial thoughts after reviewing the details, which should surprise exactly no one, are that the objective here is primarily to salvage as many mortgage-backed securities as possible.

She observes that the rather specific partitioning of troubled borrowers is the key to understanding what's going on. The people who are already screwed...well, they remain screwed. The people who can qualify for a refinance...let 'em eat refi.

It's the people who are currently paid in full but are likely to begin defaulting when their rates reset that get the help. Why this group? Because, if we allow them to keep paying at a current or modified rate, it keeps the cash flow moving into the mortgage backed security. Thus, the MBS does not deliver the originally-expected returns that were expected, but it's better than what would occur if masses of otherwise liquid mortgagees were forced into foreclosure.

The primary action which drives this plan is a clarification of some tax and accounting rules which were previously unclear, and might have prohibited loan modifications. With this clarification, the parties owning the loans are now free to preserve their coupon payments, and hopefully stanch some of the bleeding from their portfolios.

So, in case you were wondering what may have motivated this particular action, rest securely in the knowledge that BushCo is passively working to preserve the solvency of capital markets. Holders of MBS, sleep soundly tonight, secure in the knowledge that "Hope is on the way!!"

Cold War 2 - How are we doing?

2007-12-05T21:09:00.000-05:00

This is depressing.

According that favored of all sources, "Some Guy from the Blogs", this is a Russian SU-30 fighter, which is allegedly more advanced than anything we have. It has all sorts of crazy active aerodynamic features that enables it to do unbelievable aerobatics.

NPR Presidential Debates - Observations

2007-12-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

I've been listening to the whole NPR Iowa Presidential debate, and here are my observations so far.

Apparently, this wasn't intended to be a Dem-only debate, but all of the Republican candidates had scheduling conflicts. Whatever the reason, I'm pleased that the outcome was thus.

I'm not sure what's up, but the NPR questioners are all asking questions with the Republican framing hardcore front-and-center. Every question and follow-up about illegal immigration is being aggressively pursued from the Republican rhetorical angle. It's very bizarre.

I'd say all of the Dem candidates presented themselves very well, and made the NPR questioners sound foolish and simple-minded. (The odd Gravel meltdown, notwithstanding) The Dems did a good job of reframing the conversation away from the questioners' Republican slant. The only annoying bits were the constant chants of why each candidate is uniquely qualified on whatever topic and "I was first!"

My personal "favorable" numbers for both Obama and Hillary went up substantially. I still think Edwards is the man, but I'm a lot less inclined to agree with the statement that "Hillary and Obama are both tools of their corporate masters."

Admittedly, it might be my own personal bias, but I'd have to say Obama, Hillary and Edwards came out of this sounding the best. Although the questioners seemed not to shut them down as frequently as they did to the rest of the pack.

Final Verdict: No surprises from this, (excluding the bizarre Republican framing from NPR) I think they all did a really good job on presenting a message, and I'd be comfortable voting for whomever happens to get the nomination.

Update: I forgot about Hillary's explanation about having voted to formally declare the Iranian Special Guard a terrorist organization. I found her statements annoying and a little naive. I still don't see how that decree could be taken as anything other than another incremental tool for Bush/Cheney to go to war with Iran, specific prohibitions in that same bill or not. -10 pts. for Hill.

Annoying Buzzwords

2007-12-04T14:13:00.000-05:00

I'm listening to the Dem. Presidential debate on NPR right now, and it occurs to me that there are a number of currently popular buzzwords in political circles that are really annoying.

Chief among these are "on/off the table" and "carrot and stick".

Also, in the world of business, the use of the phrase "out of pocket" (to mean "out of reach") must be stopped. Calling PowerPoint presentations "decks" is also moderately grating.

That is all.

Living out of a U-Haul

2007-12-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

Saw this on Fark...

this dude is moving from Philly down to Florida by living in his modified former U-Haul truck. As much as I have to admit that I couldn't do it myself, at this point in my life, I have to give the guy a serious "Right On!" and if I'd thought of this myself 10 years ago, I'd probably try the same thing. Here's the link to his blog.

I'm sure Mr. Harne is going to get a lot of crap, both from the cops and from the "get a job you damned hippie" coalition, but I have to say it's a freaking awesomely elegant solution to a big problem.

It's especially pertinent, since I was just made aware of the Tiny House Movement, which also intrigues me.

Technorati Tags: truckhouse, Tiny House

Video - Linkin Park

2007-12-01T04:18:00.000-05:00

What I've done. Pretend the link below exists........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgycukafqQ

Buck Cherry - Just 'Cuz It's Friday

2007-12-01T04:06:00.000-05:00

Huttah!

Video - Flight of the Conchords

2007-12-01T03:42:00.000-05:00

The Humans are dead.

Video - Liz Phair - Never Said Nothing

2007-12-01T03:33:00.000-05:00

Just because it's Liz...

liz phair

Time to Diversify Out of China?

2007-11-25T15:30:00.000-05:00

So, according to this columnist, it sounds like much of the stellar returns Chinese companies have been showing are from investment returns, rather than actual business operations, and also some shady accounting practices.

Much of the stellar growth in Chinese corporate earnings has been generated by the rise in stock values because many companies have invested heavily in the market rather than core businesses.

Yay! Is there any asset class that isn't approaching the peak of a bubble right now? I just recently saw a quote in the comments on Felix Salmon's blog:

Gold is for optimists. I'm diversifying into canned goods.

Seems like a good idea right now.

Update (2007-11-26 noonish): Fixed the source attribution on the Gold quote.

Jobs, Candidates and NAFTA

2007-11-25T14:32:00.000-05:00

While checking out some diaries on dailykos, I noticed this item of interest which I'd apparently missed back in February: Hershey is shutting down some of it's production in Hershey, PA and sending 1,500 jobs to Mexico. That will reduce U.S. and Canadian production from 90% to 80%. This floored me and pissed me off.

It was probably that same diary that reminded me of how that fact dovetails into Hillary's laughing off the results of NAFTA.

Screw this Hillary shit. She is part of the problem.

Vote for Edwards.

Kelly from The Office Tours Scranton

2007-11-24T15:18:00.000-05:00

Slideshow, via boston.com.

The reason I noticed it was because I was perusing this article about how Europeans on shopping holiday in weak dollar America might bail out the retailers this X-Mas season.

Aussies Vote Labor

2007-11-24T14:23:00.000-05:00

John Howard's Liberal (Note: That's the name, but they are ideologically Conservative) party was voted out Saturday, at something like a 53-46 margin. Labor, headed by Kevin Rudd, is expected to get over 80 seats in the 150 seat lower house of Parliament.

Rob Griffith / AP

Without having followed the elections, it appears from my brief reading that John Howard was brought down by something similar to an "Abramoff scandal", as well as some employment policies that shifted a lot of power away from labor and towards employers.

It sounds like some Australians are taking quarrel with some lefty American bloggers citing Howard's close friendship with Bush as being a big factor in this election, suggesting that Americans need to get over ourselves. As such, I shall avoid making any such observations.

Tangential question, from the msnbc article cited above: Why do news agencies insist on referring to situations like this as "a humiliating defeat"? The Liberals still got 46% of the votes. It's just that more voters wanted them out than wanted them in. This is the nature of politics, and it's not clear to me why that should be considered humiliating. (I mention this even though from what news I've heard about JH, I'm quite pleased that his party got the boot.)

Cool Web Tools - CatalogChoice

2007-11-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

Just heard about this today on NPR's All Things Considered - New web tool, CatalogChoice.

Basically, you sign up on this site, and tell them what catalogs you're receiving that you do not wish to receive, and they get you off the list. As the founder explained, this is especially helpful for catalogs that arrive for previous residents. In our current apartment, we regularly receive solicitations for about 3 previous residents.

At the moment, I don't have any catalogs from which I need to unsubscribe, but as soon as one arrives, I'm signing up.

Annoyances

2007-11-23T20:46:00.000-05:00

I suddenly realize how much I hate sites that require cookies, but don't tell you which site you need to allow cookies from, in order to use them.

My 401(k) provider has a site, and I've tried enabling every obvious source domain combination in Firefox's Extended Cookie Manager extension, but I still can't seem to get it working. It's not even like this is a free content site that would make money putting ad-tracker cookies on my machine, so it makes no sense.

Proposal: Any web site/application which requires cookies should explicitly specify any and all cookie domains necessary for access.

First-hand Account of Pakistani Demonstrations

2007-11-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

Via Boingboing, we are informed of this blog post from a Pakistani journalist who was involved in a protest over Musharraf's takeover, and their subsequent police beatdown and arrest.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) had called for a peaceful demonstration at 03:00 Tuesday (yesterday) outside the Karachi Press Club. The purpose was to demand the freedom of the Press, etc. Please note, all of us were totally unarmed, while the police surrounding the area were in complete riot gear with shields and motey dandey and bulletproof vests, helmets, knee pads, and whatnot. The entire area around the press club had been cordoned off.

The moment the rally got out of the Press Club, we were attacked (yes, "attacked") by the policemen. There was a LOAD of brutal baton-charging, and one policeman hit ARY's Aajiz Jamali so hard on his back with the shield, that the shield broke in two. :-S Women and men were hit indiscriminately and very VERY brutally -- yes I can emphasize that enough. I'm skinny -- I crawled around and got out unhurt, but a lot of other people were seriously injured. Everyone ran back towards the press club. Some of our office bearers and senior people had been picked up.

Coincidentally, the preznit just made some comments on his buddy in an interview just last night:

Bush said that Musharraf hasn’t yet “crossed the line” and insisted Musharraf has “advanced democracy in Pakistan.”

Ah, yes...Freedom is on the march. Sigh...

Technorati Tag: pakistan

NPR and "Balanced Opinions"

2007-11-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

The other day on NPR, they presented a story which left me wondering what possibly qualified it as newsworthy. It appears to be the direct result of the active Republicanization of NPR.

Basically, it was about an informational roadshow going around the country since 2005 attempting to sustain the misunderstanding of the crises facing Medicare and Medicaid, and conflate those with the modest potential problems facing Social Security.

Dean Baker commented on it that day, and did his usual fine job of analyzing the core message of the Road Show.

However, he raised a point that's been bothering me about NPR's reporting lately. During this particular segment, they attempted to illustrate the road show's bipartisan creds, by explaining that its participants include a member from "the conservative Heritage Foundation" and one from the "left-leaning Brookings Institution". They've been doing this a lot lately, pairing up Heritage and Brookings to present "both sides of the story".

The reason this portrayal is complete bullshit: Brookings, despite whichever way their particular policy recommendations may lean, is an "Independent" institution. The Heritage Foundation, by contrast, has a core mission of promoting conservative public policies.

Thus, typical of modern media procedures, the pairing of an active partisan advocate with a representative of an independent think tank becomes "balance". Our "Liberal Media" - nay, the ultimate bastion of Our Liberal Media - still can't manage to get an actual liberal partisan involved in the dialogue.

Unsurprisingly, the conclusions drawn by the participants seem to suggest that we must make "tough political choices". In case you haven't been following the debate, the "tough choice" is not "raise taxes", it's "reduce benefits".

Less surprisingly, it appears that our representative from the left-leaning Brookings Institution, Douglas Elmendorf, has been beating the "Social Security is in Crisis" war drums for some time now.

So, let's just recap...thanks to the magic of our modern political climate, "Both Sides of the Story" is comprised of the conservative side, and the right of center side. Thank you, Our Liberal Media.

Update: Just before I posted this, I decided to google "left-leaning brookings institution". Clearly, I'm not the first person to make this observation. However, I took way too much time writing this post, so it's going up anyway, dammit!

Technorati Tags: npr, Liberal Media, left-leaning brookings institution

Catchin' up on some housecleaning

2007-11-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

Here are some videos I've been meaning to put up.

CollegeHumor presents the lost pilot for "24" from 1994. I love the hair, but I'd say it looks more like '97 to me. (Thanks, Geo!)

Also, some of the writers from The Daily Show put together a clever analysis of the issues behing the writers' strike.

Enjoy!

Feingold Comes Swinginig on FISA Telco Immunity

2007-11-15T01:43:00.000-05:00

In hindsight, I'm actually glad that the Russinator didn't run for Prez. He still drops the law without pandering to "The Center"

The Senator from the great State of Wisconsin brings the 2x4 to the fistfight on FISA Telco Immunity.

Feingold says: Hell, no! No immunity for lawbreakers.

Thank you very much, Senator.

No. Retroactive. Immunity. for Lawbreakers, Period!

The Senator proves once again why he is "The Only Senator That Matters", dammit!

Legend of a Cowgirl

2007-11-15T01:12:00.000-05:00

Imani Coppola...Awesomeness from the past.......

I actually have this as a cassingle, never saw the video until tonight.

Local ties for spending bill veto

2007-11-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

Whoa what's this? Disgustedem (yes, that lapsed blogger Disgustedem) is making a post? You betcha.

On Tuesday 11/13 Preznit Bush vetoed a $606 billion spending bill due to what he calls "pork" earmarks. Well as TP notes most of these are from Republican requesters:

However, much of the “pork” Boehner complained about was requested by Republicans. Aside from the “National Programs and Activities,” the single biggest earmark in the Labor-HHS-Education section of the bill belongs to Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., who won $9.3 million for the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The second-largest was requested by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — $8.4 million for the University of Louisville Research Foundation.

Read it here: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/14/bush-mcconnell-shelby-earmarks/

Also today there is this well timed Times article which goes into detail of the local repercussions the veto has: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/14/bush-mcconnell-shelby-earmarks/

While it appears this money is still possible when did Chimpy start becoming so fiscally conservative? Oh ya - this money isn't for Iraq.

Outsourcing Bargain, Doh!

2007-11-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

The other day my friend, (and lapsed contributor to this blog) disgutedem, picked up a bunch of stocks in one of the big Indian outsourcing firms. From our uninformed perspective, it was a reasonable hedge against the possibility of having our jobs outsourced to them.

Also, on the day he was buying it, there was still Street cred for the argument that "techs aren't as exposed to subprime."

Today, Kedrosky points out that the big Indian outsourcers are rather heavily exposed to the "It's-cheap-for-a-reason" financial sector.

The race to the bottom continues apace!!!!!!!

Radiohead covers Smiths via BigPicture

2007-11-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

Huh! I normally go to The Big Picture for witty economic commentary, not music, but it's becoming increasingly clear that Barry R. and I share some similar tastes.

From BP, Radiohead doing a pretty album-faithful cover of The Smiths "The Headmaster Ritual". I don't even want to start a Johnny-vs.-Johnny guitar conversation.

Basic summary: One of my favorite post-college bands covers one of my favorite "college/high school bands". Effin'-Ay right!

Update (2007-11-16): Ha! I just watched this vid again and apparently, Johnny has decided he ain't allowing any more frontal shots unless they're from the guitar-up and neck-down on a crappy webcam. As someone who tends to look crappy in photos, I applaud this move. As a band geek who wants to watch him play, I'm disappointed by the quick cut edits. Yay/boo!

Pakistan becomes a dictatorship

2007-11-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

So on Fri/Sat, Pakistan's President declared a state of National Emergency, and suspeded the constitution, based largely on the threats of:

an Islamic militant movement that has spread from border regions to the capital and an increasingly defiant Supreme Court, which was expected to rule soon on the validity of his recent presidential election win. Hearings scheduled for next week were postponed, with no new date set.

A general consensus suggested that this was a move towards dictatorship, and less concerned with national threats.

Not surprisingly, today, the military and police rounded up political activists. The Pakistani-friendly U.S. Government was understandably rendered egg-faced on the subject.

UFS pimpin' out snoopy to the interns

2007-11-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, I just got this Metlife ad on the sidebar of my yahoo financial pages. Now, I am admittedly a purist, but this Snoopy artwork appears to have been done by a moderately promising intern in MS Paint.

WTF? Are there no standards anymore? Can't the United Features Syndicate afford Photoshop for their licensed images? Line weight, anyone?

Free Jammie Thomas

2007-11-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

In case anyone doesn't know, Jammie Thomas is the person who was sued by the RIAA for uploading 24 songs on Kazaa. Ultimately, this story is about the RIAA turning their business model into a "Sue people for screwing up our failed money-making scheme" versus a "Figuring out how to adapt our business model to give people what they want"

The RIAA was awarded (depending on the article, the exact dollar amount is not clear) approximately $220,000. I'll save you the trouble of doing the math...that's over $9,000 per song.

I haven't followed the story closely, but it sounds like this case was won under questionable circumstances. It's also not clear to me, the casual observer, whether she actually admitted to sharing the songs or not.

She's fighting the ruling on the grounds that the damage amount is unconstitutional. I don't know if she's got a legal leg to stand on, but my sense is that -whether or not she was actually guilty of the crime- the punishment is completely out of line with the magnitude of the offense.

Here's the page for freejammie.com, the proceeds of which are allegedly going to her legal fees for the motion to overturn.

wikipedia entry (not terribly informative)
wired blog post

Secret History of LOLCats

2007-11-03T19:17:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Attack of the Show, we learn that - contrary to popular opinion - LOLCats predate the Internet by quite some time. I'm peeing myself laughing...and ceiling cat is watching me do so.

The History of LOLCats - Watch more free videos

Siouxie Sue - Kiss them for me

2007-11-01T00:36:00.000-05:00

The reason we saw the first Lollapalooza twice was because Siouxsie had a throat thing the first time.

Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins

2007-11-01T00:21:00.001-05:00

For real, this time........

I recall these guys getting booed off the stage, at Rec Hall at PSU, because people wanted to see the opening band and headliners...Pearl Jam and the Chili Peppers, respectively..........

Jane's - Ocean Size

2007-10-31T00:31:00.000-05:00

Much in the same way that Bush realized that man and fish could co-exist, this was the song that made me realize that Freak/Weirdo music and Metal could co-exist, dammit!

Update 2007-11-12: Video fixed. They can keep pulling the videos, we will keep linking to the new ones......

The Ditty Bops

2007-10-31T00:28:00.000-05:00

Just because they're awesome...

Update 2007-11-12: I get really tired of YouTube videos that are eventually removed. Free advertising, people. Grrrr...........

White Man's Burden

2007-10-30T23:19:00.000-05:00

Time was when a man was a man and something..something...something. Thank the good lord that people like voting chief John Tanner are looking out for downtrodden masses like me.

Nowadays, being a middle-class white man ain't the sure ticket to success that it used to be. I spend my days slaving away at the I/T Mills, while younger, completely marriage-able ladies are wasting valuable child-bearing years pursuing careers as Internet news pundits.

It makes me want to spit, I tell ya.

(completely serious)
No, seriously....it makes me want to spit. Let me tell you, please! If I was only born ten years later, I could'a been an Intertube contender, fer shure!!!
(/completely serious)

In these web-two-dot-aught days, with sites like The Webb Alert and Black20News, and their streaming talkies, any attractive female with a talent for news commentary can be a star.

But what about us thirty-somethings? We never had this shot at the big time. I could wear a low-cut shirt and smile all purty, but nobody'll watch my vidcast. Heck, all I get are a bunch of hits from Koreans looking for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", following their links from Naver.com. Whatever they're looking for, they don't find it here...they just move on.

Bah, some day...there will be justice for the middle-class 30-something American white man...we will have a voice.

Siamese Dream - Rocket

2007-10-30T01:38:00.000-05:00

Smashing Pumpkins, just because.

....memories of listening to this album when it was new, sitting in the woods with my cats, LOLcats!

Update 2007-10-30 22:34: Updated the title of the post. For whatever reason, I had it in my head the name of the album was "Cherub Rock". Personally, I blame the Clinton Administration. That or the booze.

eff it, modest mouse

2007-10-30T01:32:00.000-05:00

Dashboard follows.....

Johnny Marr, y'all........

I'll Take Mine in "Go Mango" Green, Please

2007-10-29T21:14:00.000-05:00

(Your author drools...)

The AutoBlog article isn't sure if this is an official (the automaker formerly known as Plymouth) car, or some custom one-off, but dear lord, I want one. Even with the godawfully ugly interior.

Update 2007-10-30-02:03 EST: From the update on AutoBlog, it is apparently a one-off. Curses!

Paulson and the Administration's Message

2007-10-29T18:28:00.000-05:00

Back in late July, our Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson hit my radar by reportedly making the following comments on the economy:

Speaking on CNBC television, Paulson said the economy was moving to a sustainable pace of growth and the risks in the subprime mortgages market were largely contained.
(This was from a yahoo news article which has since expired.)

Now, bear in mind that when he said it, it was becoming clear that the subprime problems were not terribly well contained. I believe it was earlier that week that Mozillo explicitly said that the delinquencies were showing up in Alt-A and even Prime loans. Furthermore, the "subprime is contained" talking points had started to become something of a joke.

So to hear the Secretary of the Treasury tossing out talking points past their expiration date was a bit troubling. Either he was doing a really poor job of trying to bamboozle, or he was woefully uninformed.

Consequently, I've been trying to keep an eye on what Hank has to say about the economy since then.

Today, Bonddad informs me of his latest masterpiece. Now that the dollar is at all time lows against the Euro, and down substantially against just about every major currency which isn't on a dollar peg, Hank tells us:

"I believe that a strong dollar is in our nation's interest and also that currency values should be set in a competitive marketplace based upon underlying economic fundamentals,"

Bonddad comments:

Look -- if the US wants a "strong dollar policy" they have to act like a strong dollar economy. That means things like exporting more than they import and not issuing mammoth amounts of new debt every year. You just can't say it; you have to act in a way that leads to that result.

Indeed.

At this point, it's really hard to shake the belief that everyone in the Administration genuinely believes that if you just say something enough times, it will magically become true.

Victory!

2007-10-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

When I was first waking up this morning, I thought I heard the news announcer say that the Red Sox had finally delivered victory over the insurgent Iraqis, but then I realized I was half asleep and misunderstood.

Congrats to Boston, anyway, I guess.

The "Comcast Blocking BitTorrent" Story Continues

2007-10-28T17:55:00.000-05:00

Since I wasn't blogging while this was happening, I missed discussing this story initially. However, like all good juicy stories, this one keeps on giving.

Earlier this summer, there were reports that Comcast was blocking BitTorrent traffic. Comcast offered a denial that basically said they didn't monitor what types of traffic it's customers were using, but that they did reserve the right to shut down people who hogged bandwidth. More recently, the AP investigated and found some fairly conclusive proof that, contrary to what Comcast said, it sure looked like they were sending spoofed messages that appeared to be from the downloader to the seed host to stop sending. (Summary here)

Consumerist subsequently received some internal emails from Comcast that indicates that their official line is now that they are not "blocking access" to BitTorrent users. Which, in classic hair-splitting language, is arguably true. They're not technically blocking anyone's access, they're simply telling the seed file hosts to stop sending. The reps are being told, very sternly, not to deviate from their scripts, so I can't imagine there's some extremely precise legal arguments being utilized here.

And then, from an update in that same consumerist post, it is discovered that the software Comcast denies using to interfere with BitTorrent traffic is available as a choice on their internal troubleshooting system.

We'll be watching this one closely...

Domestic Wiretapping Prior to 9/11

2007-10-28T17:29:00.001-05:00

This post is going to be rather sparse, and the main reason I'm putting it up is so I can easily find the WaPo link later on.

Main point: Everyone talking about providing retroactive Telco immunity in the upcoming FISA update argues that "Hey, it was after the 9/11 Terrorist attacks! They were trying to help the Gov't out in a very troubling time." However, as this article suggests, the domestic surveillance had started long before the Sept 11th attacks occurred.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week.
(emphasis mine)

This information has been significantly absent in all discussions I've heard lately, so it may have been refuted. Still trying to find out the status on the validity of the claim. More to come...

Update: Here's an article where emptywheel examines the SSCI arguments in favor of retro immunity for the telcos.

Irrational Exuberance, Oct 2007-style

2007-10-27T14:23:00.000-05:00

Hey, everybody! It's Saturday!

Let's review what I consider the most interesting stock market news from yesterday.

Troubled home lender Countrywide Financial reported 3Q results yesterday. Here are the highlights:

- Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) posted a $1.2 billion third-quarter loss on Friday
- The quarterly net loss totaled $2.85 per share, or $1.20 more than Reuters Estimates said analysts on average expected
- Countrywide wrote down $1 billion related to capital market disruptions.
- It set aside $934.3 million for credit losses, up from $38 million a year earlier, as more borrowers fell behind on payments
- Countrywide said borrowers were delinquent on 29.08 percent of subprime loans it serviced as of September 30, up from 23.71 percent in June.

Truly some grim results. I can only imagine the market must have really pummeled their stock.

Countrywide shares rose $4.23 to $17.30 on the New York Stock Exchange

Huh. You don't say...

Makes you wonder what all those buyers were expecting CFC to report, no?

So, at this point, I'm convinced that the financial markets are just completely covering their ears and shouting "la-la-la...I can't hear you!" for about half of the economic news coming in. There can't be a recession, because I called bull market, no takebacks.

AP Editorial Slant on Oil Revenues

2007-10-24T20:01:00.002-05:00

So I get that this article is from the business news section, but this might well be the most transparently biased lead line I've ever seen.

The oil industry is under assault globally by nations and even provinces who want companies ... to cough up more royalties they can use to address issues like poverty and education.

The oil industry is under assault? Oh dear! Who will look out for the interests of those defenseless multi-billion dollar megacorporations? Forget the freaking children, wont someone please think of Big Lovable Oil? Curse those greedy nations (and provinces, no less!) for depriving these businesses of their profits and then frittering them away on the greedy poor and uneducated.

So, either....Wow! That's an interesting take on the subject. Or else, I tip my hat to the most subversive sarcasm since "A Modest Proposal".

Ouch!

2007-10-24T19:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm basically just going to copy (and link to) Mark's boingboing post, because he pretty much sums this one up as elegantly and succinctly as possible:

Nad Shot is a blog that posts comic book panels of violent punches and kicks to the groin.

Nad Shot. A blog posting pics of comic characters getting hit in the nuts. I suppose "brilliant" is not the right word, but maybe "awesome" is close.

10/19 Changed Everything

2007-10-19T20:52:00.000-05:00

Uh oh...from MSNBC...

Plane hits building near Vancouver airport
Two elderly people aboard aircraft injured, Canadian media report

Let's see if Harper is going to prove his Conservative cred and declare a Global War on Elderly People.

Sarkozy elected President of France

2007-05-06T18:12:00.000-05:00

Well, in what (I believe) NPR called the highest french voter turnout ever, voters have elected conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as President over Segolene Royal. He is expected to push for reforms that would push France towards a more US/UK-style of social and economic policies to help increase French growth and employment.

Kos luminary Jerome a Paris isn't completely convinced. Further, he again argues compellingly that, contrary to the standard line in most economic reporting, the economies of the US and UK aren't necessarily superior to that of France.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Van Johnson on the Future of Content Networking

2007-05-06T15:22:00.000-05:00

This is already a bit old, but I was just alerted to it via slashdot.

Van Johnson, one of the people responsible for building computer networking as we know it today, gives a lecture at Google summarizing how we got to Web 2.0 and proposing where we need to go from here. His basic premise is that we're currently at a "Coppernican Revolution" moment in terms of content delivery, similar to where we were in the 60s and 70s when they were working on what would become the Intertubes as we know them today...and suggests that we need to change the way we think about networking.

He suggests that the biggest problem with networking as we have it today is that it is still fundamentally too "conversation-based", which worked fine for the pre-commercial academic/military/research networks for which it was designed, but in our emerging ubiquitous computing world, it needs to be more "data-centric".

For those who care it's well worth watching.

Huge in Korea

2007-05-01T23:43:00.000-05:00

So my regular reader knows that I've been perplexed by my inexplicable traffic resulting from searches on "tiananmen square", we now have chapter 2 of the story. (Sidenote: I've still never managed to find this blog when searching on any of these terms, which is one of my key sources of perplexity)

The (apparently) Korean search engine naver.com seems to be sending a lot of traffic my way on searches for "Gorillaz".

To this I say: "Huttah!", and further... 환영, 나의 한국 친구

(This is likely one of those cases where babelfish totally screws up and that text manages to be some Korean insult.)

4/29truth.com - don't believe the hype

2007-05-01T23:22:00.000-05:00

Unlike the situation on 9/11, we now know how to evaluate gas-fire-related structural collapses. As such, we now have a site devoted to debunking the "official story" on the so-called *accidental* collapse of the overpass leading to the Bay Bridge, only days after the actual event.

Was it Liberals? Or the Jews? Or perhaps George Soros, even?

I'm sure this site will get beyond the *official story* in no time.

Johnathan Coulton - First of May

2007-05-01T23:18:00.000-05:00

exitramp's favorite musician, Johanathan Coulton, has new (?) a song appropriate for MayDay. He maintains and/or exceeds most favored musician status with this one.

Link. (Definitely NSFW.)

Ah, spring...