news, views, visions …
Back to Main
May 18, 2005
A Fresh One
Comments
‘We are a banana republic’
Pepe Escobar interviews Paul Krugman
.. what would he do to extricate the US from this mess? “No more budget deficits,” he says. “We should be running surpluses.” Tax increases: “We should be getting 28% of GDP [gross domestic product] in revenue. We are only collecting 17%.” And most of all, clean up the foreign-policy mess. Not much of a chance though. “We are a banana republic. For the moment, all of these things are politically impossible.”
…
“The US is already losing position anyway. The Russian mafia is now using euros. This is not a big deal.” He sees a shift toward diversifying reserves as inevitable both in Japan and emerging Asia. And for him, the dollar is not weak enough: “It should go down more, for instance, against the yen.” He does not realistically expect a major devaluation of the Chinese yuan – maximum 5%. Krugman admits it’s hard to predict what happens next: “It needs a trigger. But I’m convinced it’s the collapse of the housing market in the US that will trigger the dollar’s decline.”
2 new biographies & 1 commentary on the amercan hero, john brown worth reading he represents another america
Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 18 2005 18:02 utc | 2
Hmmm –
The federal government will spend nearly $2 billion in the next decade on male impotence drugs under its Medicare program, according to a new cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office that is fueling some lawmakers’ efforts to end that spending.
A cute one:
Rent or buy a house? There is a online calculator for this here and it seems correct.
But only if you think house prices can NOT go down. If you enter a negative appreciation rate you will get:
Please go back and correct the following fields
House’s Appreciation Rate cannot be negative.
I do not agree with these comments (and I put personal hard earned real money against them), but if you are invested somehow, you should know this opinion.
Currencies: Seven Reasons to Sell the Euro
Economic fundamentals typically merely serve as scapegoats to justify ex post exchange rate movements that have occurred for unobservable reasons. The downtrend in EUR/USD since the start of the year suggests that the US current account deficit is no longer a good scapegoat to explain what has happened. The market needs a new scapegoat. In my view, one or several of the seven bear cases for the euro that I listed above will serve as such and will push the euro significantly lower in the remainder of this year. Coin flippers should use Eagle dollars rather than euro cents for now.
Totally off-topic and way ludicrous compared to our usual discussions. But well, let’s just say that in my opinion the last Star Wars Episode III was worth the price of admission, if only for Lucas’ take on “You’re with me or you’re against me” which he openly states to be a Sith / Dark Side reasoning. Not that it surprises me he thinks so, since the basic plot of Episodes II and III is how a corrupt leader creates war out of basically nothing, to take more and more power in (and from) the Republic, until democracy and freedom are ultimately wiped out. Except that most Dems wouldn’t even make decent Jedis…
Posted by: CluelessJoe | May 18 2005 22:43 utc | 6
Librarian’s brush with FBI shapes her view of the USA Patriot Act
Posted by: Nugget | May 18 2005 22:51 utc | 7
unfortunately – the drink soaked popinjam & jackenape christopher hitchens also reviews favourably the new john brown biography – perhaps it marks my decline – i will need slothrop or theodor’s shock troops
Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 19 2005 0:38 utc | 8
Turkey launches attacks on Kurdish bases in Iraq
ANKARA [MENL] — Turkey’s military has launched strikes on Kurdish insurgency bases in northern Iraq.
After two years of threats, Ankara has sent ground forces, attack helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to Kandil mountain strongholds of the Kurdish Workers Party. Most of the weapons used by Turkey were imported from the United States.
The government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has not reported the attacks. But Kurdish sources in southeastern Turkey said Ankara began attacks in late April against PKK strongholds with F-16 multi-role fighters, AH-1G attack helicopters and M-60 main battle tanks……
Posted by: Nugget | May 19 2005 1:13 utc | 9
I have to admit, I could have never dreamed that the U.S. of A. would turn into the cluster fuck it is today. I grew up in the seventies and freedom in the U.S. was on the rise. Now with the rethugs in power it seems freedom is on the outs. Pat Roberts is leading the charge in increasing the Patriot Acts powers to where the FBI can get search warrants without judges.
The fascist have hit the U.S. and there seems to be no letting up.
Posted by: jdp | May 19 2005 1:16 utc | 10
I’ve been thinking a lot about the 60s and 70s, too. It seemed like there was a lot that just *worked* back then. In our parents’ lifetimes, America had helped best Hitler, built the interstate highway system, ended polio, put a man on the moon, and were on their way to creating the IT revolution. Anything we wanted to do, we just did it — usually with verve and confidence, often tempered with a surprising measure of intelligence and compassion.
Now, it seems like we can’t even keep the tap water clean, land a space shuttle, or invade a ravaged Third World nation without completely botching the job. We just shrug when our leaders lie to us — not just about who they had sex with, but about critical stuff like why our kids are dying, where our retirement money went, and who’s being tortured in our name. Nobody’s accountable. No explanations are required. None of it really matters, anyway….
I don’t know America any more. This sure as hell is not the country I grew up in. And it’s not just that our leaders are uninspiring, amoral liars and crooks. No, evil is succeeding, before our very eyes, because (as Burke did not say) the good people aren’t doing a damn thing to stop it.
(Burke also didn’t say that the hottest fires of Hell are reserved for those who remain silent during a moral crisis, but if he had, he’d have been right about that, too.)
It’s becoming clear to me that reversing all this is shaping up into the most important challenge of our lifetimes. We reality-based few are going to have to spend the next 20 years confronting the authoritarian beast wherever it shows its face — whether it’s risking family harmony by challenging our fundie brothers-in-law, grilling our representatives with impertinent questions in public fora, or standing up by the millions before the armies of the state. It is our debt to history to hold these people accountable, to reassert truth, and to take our democracy back from those who would destroy it. There is no more important cause to give our lives to than ensuring the future of liberty on earth.
It is also a responsibility that we can no longer evade. For those of us now in our middle years, this struggle may well take the rest of our lives. But the more of us who engage it, and the sooner we start fighting, the quicker it will all be over.
We might as well get started.
Posted by: Mrs. Robinson | May 19 2005 2:05 utc | 12
rememberinggiap,
maybe you can direct me to the John Brown bio by the ‘popinjay’ Hitchens?
Posted by: theodor | May 19 2005 3:25 utc | 13
Quote:
None of it really matters, anyway….
***
And this is what is killing me!
Quote:
It is also a responsibility that we can no longer evade. For those of us now in our middle years, this struggle may well take the rest of our lives. But the more of us who engage it, and the sooner we start fighting, the quicker it will all be over.
***
That’s what I hope too, for sure. I am fighting nonsense and immorality in politic for the last 16 years or so and all I have is a high blood pressure and blood sugar, ha-ha. But I still hope…or I wouldn’t be around any more…
Posted by: vbo | May 19 2005 3:49 utc | 14
@Mrs. Robinson – there were also the Bay of Pigs, Viet Nam, people shot on Campus, lots of mangling in South America, …
As expected – they want to stay:
Generals Offer Sober Outlook on Iraqi War
American military commanders in Baghdad and Washington gave a sobering new assessment on Wednesday of the war in Iraq, adding to the mood of anxiety that prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to come to Baghdad last weekend to consult with the new government.
In interviews and briefings this week, some of the generals pulled back from recent suggestions, some by the same officers, that positive trends in Iraq could allow a major drawdown in the 138,000 American troops late this year or early in 2006. One officer suggested Wednesday that American military involvement could last “many years.”
and they will be kicked out
More on the down fall of a Great Nation:
New Secret P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act Expansion
While everyone’s focused on the judicial (fuck the dems in the ass w/ a hot poker) filibuster issue, our representatives are meeting today in secret to expand the so-called USA PATRIOT ACT. And as if that isn’t enough, Heads up, those whacky Xtians over at the Heritage Foundation have stumbled on to some sad info : “Say goodbye to affordable freedom of information requests”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 19 2005 5:43 utc | 17
These links,
Quatari-Israeli dealing
and “Mossad confirms views of Bernhard’s countrarians” show that the Middle East would remain fascinating even if it were peaceful, an eventuality which, thanks also to Nugget’s signaling of the Turkish bombing of Iraqi Kurds, we can be reasonably sure will remain in the realm of the contrafactual for the forseeable future.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 19 2005 5:51 utc | 18
Karl Marx is making an unexpected revival as Chinese tourists flock to the German city of Trier to visit his birthplace. Meanwhile, shopkeepers, keen to profit from their visitors, have begun learning rudimentary Chinese.
…
Li Qeng and his tourist group have traveled on to Heidelberg. But before he left he did a quick bit of shopping: a blazer (€80), a pair of jeans (€60), a Swatch watch (€200), some perfume (€30), some chocolate (€5) and two umbrellas (€20) – making €385 in total. Marx would roll over in his grave.
Der Speigel via Angry Arab.
@Coleman – Morgan Stanley bias – owning lots of US$ denominated bonds.
@Hannah – Quatar – wasn´t there a carbomb in March?
– Mossad – Interesting that they really think the US account deficit is sinking after Aprils numbers showed some $55 billion defict instead of expected $62 billion. All last week of March was new years holiday in China – less produced, less exported maybe? As far as I can tell that was not factored into the numbers.
Just the fact that voices are rising now saying the US$ is to go up makes me sure it will go down again quite soon. As soon as a US$ rise is the popular believe on financial TV stations it will go down again. Probably triggered by a Juni/July attack on Iran.
b, or maybe they’re trying to distract us from:Morgan Stanley told to pay additional $850m.
b, the Coleman with the ‘e’ is the eejit in the Senate remember? The Colman with no ‘e’ is the eejit who hangs around MOA.
Colman, what is an ‘eejit’? Could not find it in the dictionary.
Posted by: Fran | May 19 2005 8:16 utc | 24
Colman’s Irish dictionary is similar to my Glasgow dictionary.
Posted by: DM | May 19 2005 8:22 utc | 25
However, someone being a bit of an eejit would imply their being slighty soft in the head.
The BBC has heard of it, though they miss some of the subtleties of usage. While it can be used sort of affectionately, it definitely isn’t always. It depends on the context.
In my usage above, the reference to Coleman would have been much more acerbic than the reference to Colman.
History textbooks are still being rewritten in Iraq
…..but the fifth-grade textbook still includes a call to arms, exhorting Iraqis to unite “against invasion and foreign powers.”
Posted by: Nugget | May 19 2005 9:01 utc | 28
Thanks Colman. So the word eejit seems to be similar to the meaning of the Swiss German word ‘Dubel’ which I would attribute definitely to Coleman. However, we have the adavantage that by adding an i at the end we make it smaller and affectionate – so to your perception of Colman – ‘Dubeli’ would apply. Ok. thanks for teaching me a new word.
Posted by: Fran | May 19 2005 9:06 utc | 29
Interesting (to me) BBC link on the word eejit, though, Colman.
A huge part of Northern Ireland’s heritage, and it’s population, comes originally from the west of Scotland. The word “eejit” has been in common use in the Glasgow area for generations, certainly since the 19th Century.
Interesting to know that there are a lot of Billmon’s and Bageant’s “Scots-Irish” that are not the warring, obstropulous types. Or maybe we are.
Posted by: DM | May 19 2005 9:22 utc | 31
Only 19th century? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in Irish books from that era – I suspect it’s a pretty old usage. It’s certainly embedded deeply in Irish English.
Scots-Irish is code for Protestants of Ulster or Scottish origin, as far as I can tell. Weird US ethno-religious subgroups. They’re not Irish, because the Irish are potato grubbing pagan peasants in league with the anti-Christ.
And by “comes from” they mean “was planted by the British Crown in a purposeful policy of ethnic cleansing.” But details.
….Doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., are assessing all injured troops returning from Iraq. As many as 60 percent have brain injuries, the journal reported. Some are mild. Most are moderate to severe. “There is a good chance that they will be living with symptoms for a long time,” Oakie said….
Get down to your nearest recruiting center and spread the good news:
“Traumatic brain injury is the signature wound of this war.”
Posted by: Nugget | May 19 2005 9:32 utc | 33
DM,
both Bageant and Billmon to be included (in the non-warring group).
Posted by: anna missed | May 19 2005 9:32 utc | 34
oh my god,been out of touch locally i guess,just heard on the news a pastor of hosanna church in ponchatoula louisiana a sheriff and church member were arrested for sexual abuse.with infants to young children.teaching the children to have sex with each other and cats and dogs on the church grounds.i don’t believe in god but shit oh my god.these are the people looking down on us?it is sickening.i thought that fda guy hagel(?)was bad but boy i’m beginning to really think their house of cards might be crumbling.
Posted by: onzaga | May 19 2005 10:01 utc | 35
Colman,
Lots of them came here (scotsirish to USA) up to 25% population by 1800. Now comprise most stereotype redneck/red state mentality. Mostly, as I can tell, bleached out as an ethnic identity here in the US, but the cultural heritage/inclinations remain despite any direct identification — except the lingering anti-catholic thing. A cruise of scots/irish websites would show those into the direct heritage would prefer being called Ulster Scots. Billmon, Bageant, and Digby have all commented on this connection to US politics/culture, which I find fascinating in the sense that these cultural inclinations have been part of the American experience (all of it) from the begining, the last significant eruption being the civil war.
Posted by: anna missed | May 19 2005 10:10 utc | 36
can’t seem to find anything on google but its 5am maybe it hasn’t hit the papers yet.i only say this because i would like to back this up with a link just because its so hard to believe.these people seem to be extreme in everything they do.
Posted by: onzaga | May 19 2005 10:18 utc | 37
The truth of the miserable failure of ‘Operation Matador’ slowly emerges:
While information about last week’s counter-insurgency campaign in Western Iraq proves elusive, hospitals cite civilian deaths; thousands remain homeless as locals and some US troops challenge claims of success.
…According to the Italian Consortium of Solidarity, a non-governmental aid agency setting up relief efforts in Western Iraq, the events displaced 8,000 people, and 6,000 are presently homeless in the region….
“We ran away from the American bombings. The Americans do not hit the gunmen, they hit the houses of civilians.”
Posted by: Nugget | May 19 2005 10:31 utc | 38
Report for onzaga in addition to dan of steele’s link
Ponchatoula church cited in child rape, animal sex case
Posted by: Nugget | May 19 2005 10:49 utc | 40
(all of it) from the begining, the last significant eruption being the civil war
My name was not too common in Scotland – but then I discovered why. Seems like my clan made up a sizable chunk of the Confederate army.
Posted by: DM | May 19 2005 11:21 utc | 41
b and Colman (and Coleman…)
–looking at the various links on this thread, I’m inclined to think that the dollar cheerleaders are just trying to influence opinion about US currency.
When did the dollar start to fall? With the implementation of the Bush administration’s democracy-hating freedom-hating, world-hating policies. Since we still have the same administration in power, I don’t see why anyone would be bullish on the dollar unless they want to put some hurt on Europe for not bowing and scraping to the Bushitters.
It’s the same thing as Bush offering up Bolton to the UN…an attempt to get revenge on anyone who opposes them…
The extension of the patriot act, imo, stems from this same impulse among the pro-totalitarians in the US. While the act is supposedly there to get information on terrorists, as with “Homeland Security” and the Texas redistricting fight, these laws are ultimately a political tool for the totalitarians in the US to use against their opponents.
Someone wants to run for office to oppose a neo-con…call on the Patriot Act to try to find dirt, to harass, to make opposition harder.
…and I am, more and more, convinced that the religious right, a group that delights in sniffing the panties of the rest of the world, projects their sicknesses on the rest of us. How many of their male leaders have recently been revealed to be secretly homosexual, or revealed to think “family values” include group sex?
Dobson, as well, who claims to “focus on the family” to make them stronger, believes that it is okay to hurt children, to physically intimidate them, rather than use the force of reason and patience and modeling to teach children how to become adults.
feh. a pox on all of their houses.
Posted by: fauxreal | May 19 2005 13:04 utc | 42
…and I am, more and more, convinced that the religious right, a group that delights in sniffing the panties of the rest of the world, projects their sicknesses on the rest of us.
Great, thank, that’s an image I needed in my head. Thanks a lot.
Where better for them to hide but in plain sight, ranting against the behaviours they’re so obsessed with?
I’ve posted on the “No Credible Witness” thread (seemingly on its last legs) about how the full BBC TV feed on Galloway’s testimony shows Galloway’s interlocutors in the US Senate stipulating all but one of Galloway’s accusations.
Posted by: citizen | May 19 2005 14:50 utc | 47
Mrs. Robinson: I don’t know America any more. This sure as hell is not the country I grew up in. And it’s not just that our leaders are uninspiring, amoral liars and crooks. No, evil is succeeding, before our very eyes, because (as Burke did not say) the good people aren’t doing a damn thing to stop it.
What is the cause (taking for granted that a combination of causes may apply)?
Evil? There is something to that – but I find it hard to articulate. A dark, difficult, topic.
Capitalism? Understood as a system that spins along, out of control, feeding on itself, creating misery (e.g. periphery / core differences, new South-North relations, etc.) until it pops?
Dwindling resources? Along with rising population – a realisation that techno fixes are puny or illusory?
Cultural limits? The West has spun out of control – its aims – perhaps not quite clear yet – of hegemony and a protection society (following after the idea of a ‘curing of ills’ world society) are completely insane?
The failure of the democratic (big quotes around that) society, as a victim of its own success? People in the US, Switzerland, and many other places, no longer participate or vote – they are ‘confortable’ (even when, according to some realists, they are not or should not see themselves as such!) and want only a technocracy Gvmt. who efficiently mends the roads, keeps the price of gas down and the cable TV coming?
Individualism, the loss of sense of community, and the concurrent erosion or death of cultural transmission – abandoning rational, grounded, and practical education? A complete, and ultimate, misreading of what it is to be human?
An endless subterranean geo-political struggle (emphasis on the geo) that is certainly now lost?
A bunch of gangsters gaining ground?
Fate? Sunspots?
Any others?
The good people aren’t doing much (substituting little for nothing..) to stop it. I agree with Mrs. R. there.
Posted by: Blackie | May 19 2005 16:46 utc | 48
A must read is the linked article by Bill Moyers on the destruction of Public Broadcasting and the current state of American journalism. http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/moyers1.html. This is truly revolting stuff. I pray for my country. God save the United States.
Posted by: Dismayed | May 19 2005 17:28 utc | 49
hey, speaking of “fresh”, could one reason that the cia is moving its domestic division to denver and that the religious right is headquartering in CO as well have anything to do w/ the rockies being a fresh water source? gotta have fresh water access in your lifeboat, right? just a thought.
Posted by: b real | May 19 2005 18:15 utc | 50
Bush To Retract War
While the Administration initially reported that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that it was linked to the 9/11 attacks on America, it appeared as recently as last Thursday that that was not true. “We couldn’t be sorrier that our misreporting of the facts surrounding Iraq has caused the loss of human life,” said Scott McClellan today.
McCelllan explained that the President thought that the recent Newsweek debacle required the Administration to reexamine its own poorly sourced actions. “We couldn’t really ask Newsweek for an apology and not admit our own mistake,” said McClellan. “We’re not hypocrites.”
Posted by: citizen | May 19 2005 18:45 utc | 51
I’ve been looking for transcripts of the followup questions with Galloway, and came upon something which, for some reason, shocked me.
The Senate has effectively expunged Galloway’s testimony from the record. Here is the Senate website where everyone’s statement except Galloway’s is available for downloading. And here is warblogging’s post that points out this lovely little achievment by our “representatives”.
Posted by: citizen | May 19 2005 19:30 utc | 52
EEjit is absolutely everyday present language in erron though the word in my head today because of the anti-turkish worker outburst from the minister for overseas development in the irish parliament is ‘gobshite’
Posted by: drunk as a rule | May 19 2005 20:18 utc | 53
theodor
the biography of john brown is not written by that drink soaked popinjay & jackanape christopher hitchens but by a respected & thoughtful scholar, david s. reynolds tho there is another by merril d peterson.
hitchens reviewed the reynolds in an atlantic of last month – an issue that boasts more poison than a puff adder – with another article from ‘our living treasure’ b.h.l. & how much he loves america & americans but above all how much he loves himself – the issue nearly sent me into a coma from which only tom delays leering face could wake me
Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 19 2005 20:54 utc | 54
ps I heard B-H L on the radio somewhere waxing about his roadtrip. It was nauseating.
Posted by: theodor | May 20 2005 0:34 utc | 56
theodor
i can imagine nothing worse – imagine being his transator down the cherry paths of america – it’d be enough to convert me very quickly to the muslim brotherhood – i would even think of listen to bhl’s muslim brother tarek ramadan. their dishonesties, duplicities & degredations of basic questions so similar & their vanity almost monumental
the brown biography ery good indeed & there is a reprint of a book about the weather underground which is also worth a read about another america – which way the weather blew – published by verso
& for good measure a catalogue of paintings by arsehile gorky
Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 20 2005 0:39 utc | 57
b real wrote:
hey, speaking of “fresh”, could one reason that the cia is moving its domestic division to denver and that the religious right is headquartering in CO as well have anything to do w/ the rockies being a fresh water source?
Ha, Ha…
Try this…First there was NORAD headquartered in Colorado Springs…then naturally came the Air Force Academy…The Really Interesting Question is who made the decision & why on moving the Theocratic organizations out there…
But the Gen. in charge of NORAD is also head of NorthCom – the outfit that will plan & run the military takeover of the xxUS – though his jurisdiction extends through Canada & I am almost certain Mexico as well.
So, funny remarks aside, presumably, although it’s illegal for CIA to operate domestically til this junta trashed the constitution, they want to be able to easily co-ordinate w/the military guys who’ll be taking over…perhaps even share computer systems, certain provide them with lists of domestic dissidents to be rounded up Immediately as they did in Greek Colonel’s Coup they orchestrated…
Posted by: Anonymous | May 20 2005 1:15 utc | 58
No surprise one of the most heavily federally subsidized cites in the U.S., Colorado Springs, is also among the most perversely conservative. It is a more soulless city than even Dallas or Cincinatti–there’s no destination in the city at all. Believe me, it is hell. Bill Armstrong’s city. If you visit there, a part of you will die forever.
There are some very good restaurants on s. tejon where many mexican immigrants live.
Posted by: slothrop | May 20 2005 2:11 utc | 59
well they’ll certainly work up a thirst coordinating all the round-ups then 🙂 yep, NORTHCOM covers mexico and even cuba. i imagine the military & homeland c&c’s are located in CO b/c of it’s location between canada & mexico. and it sounds like the theocrats are there to take over the military. and seriously, if i were planning on establishing a center of operations to wage war against the rest of the population, i’d want to be near some dependable fresh water.
Posted by: b real | May 20 2005 3:19 utc | 60
Are you SURE Osama said what CNN says he said? Using audio to drive speech in animation has been around for some time (I even use it in my “day job”), but now the technique is being used to put words into the mouths of people on video tape after-the-fact.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 20 2005 5:19 utc | 61
I take it as a gven that Bush is “damaged goods”. He has no capacity to think things through, none for plan, and such capacities as he may have are marred by a life-time of bad training and bad character (no discipline, a pathological urge to hurt people.) And he therefore does–what? In any given day, he (1) goes off on a Social Security junket somewhere, and (2.) welcomes to the White House a head of state from a country hfd
Posted by: alabama | May 20 2005 5:40 utc | 62
“if i were planning on establishing a center of operations to wage war against the rest of the population, i’d want to be near some dependable fresh water.”
I’d want to be near some great skiing…
But it does worry me, that that’s why Theos moved there/were invited there. What’s funny about it, is that they are so radically anti-family, that several major corps – incl. Apple – moved there shortly after ‘cuz they knew they could get them to work ridiculous hours for little money – unlike in Calif. for example where people expect time off to read, have social & family lives, get loaded, etc.
Unca $cam, I left you a msg. on Filibuster thread in response to your exhaustion.
Check leading post on Americablog now on NYT art. on the way Am. soldiers treated those they rounded up. Hopefully, it’ll seriously weaken Repugs overall, beg. w/”fillibuster”.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 20 2005 5:47 utc | 63
The new Krugman: The Chinese Connection
Stories about the new Treasury report condemning China’s currency policy probably had most readers going, “Huh?” Frankly, this is an issue that confuses professional economists, too. But let me try to explain what’s going on.
Over the last few years China, for its own reasons, has acted as an enabler both of U.S. fiscal irresponsibility and of a return to Nasdaq-style speculative mania, this time in the housing market. Now the U.S. government is finally admitting that there’s a problem – but it’s asserting that the problem is China’s, not ours.
And there’s no sign that anyone in the administration has faced up to an unpleasant reality: the U.S. economy has become dependent on low-interest loans from China and other foreign governments, and it’s likely to have major problems when those loans are no longer forthcoming.
…
Yet the U.S. has become dependent on this perverse behavior. Dollar purchases by China and other foreign governments have temporarily insulated the U.S. economy from the effects of huge budget deficits. This money flowing in from abroad has kept U.S. interest rates low despite the enormous government borrowing required to cover the budget deficit.
…
So why is the U.S. government complaining? The Treasury report says nothing at all about how China’s currency policy affects the United States – all it offers on the domestic side is the usual sycophantic praise for administration policy. Instead, it focuses on the disadvantages of Chinese policy for the Chinese themselves. Since when is that a major U.S. concern?
In reality, of course, the administration doesn’t care about the Chinese economy. It’s complaining about the yuan because of political pressure from U.S. manufacturers, which are angry about those Chinese trade surpluses. So it’s all politics. And that’s the problem: when policy decisions are made on purely political grounds, nobody thinks through their real-world consequences.
Posted by: Fran | May 20 2005 5:54 utc | 64
Oops, post prev. to Fran’s was mine. Getting late…
We’ve long known Vt. was the best state in the Union. They’re keeping up their reputation. One Step Closer to Universal Health Care
“the Vermont Senate has given preliminary approval to a sweeping reform of the state’s health care system.” By a vote of 21 to six, “the Senate approved a new program they call Green Mountain Health” that “will provide primary and preventative care to all uninsured Vermonters beginning in July 2006.”
And Sen. Max Baucus’ Rebuttal to little Ricky Santorum comparing xDems. to Hitler. This is the Way Democracy Ends
…
Abraham Lincoln said: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
Former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin said: “It is not slogans or bullets, but only institutions, that can make, and keep, people free.”
And Baron Montesquieu wrote in The Spirit of the Laws: “There is no liberty, if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and the executive.” …
Mr. President, in ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, and the emperor became a tyrant, it was not because the emperor abolished the Senate. In ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, it continued to exist, at least in name. But in ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, in the words of the Senate’s historian, Senator Robert Byrd, the Senate became “little more than a name.”
In ancient Rome, when the Senate lost its power, the Roman Senate was complicit in the transfer. The emperor did not have to seize all the honors and powers. The Roman Senate, one after another, conferred greater powers on Caesar.
It was not the abolition of the Senate that made the emperor powerful. It was the Senate’s complete deference.
Like the Roman Senate before us, we risk bringing our diminution upon ourselves. We risk bringing upon ourselves a hollow Senate, a mere shadow of its past self. And we risk bringing upon ourselves a loss of the checks and balances that ensure our American democracy. …
Mr. President:
This is the way democracy ends;
This is the way democracy ends;
This is the way democracy ends;
Not with a bomb, but a gavel.
Posted by: jj | May 20 2005 6:19 utc | 65
It’s horrendous, I could not finish reading it (its 10 pages), I am so fed, this is so shameful for humanity – are we ever going to learn????????????????
In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates’ Deaths
Posted by: Fran | May 20 2005 8:17 utc | 66
b, sorry, you must have linked the report story while I was linking to it on the ‘fresh one’. You can delete mine if you want to, however, I think it is so important that it is good thing being linked on both threads.
Posted by: Fran | May 20 2005 8:19 utc | 67
Gosh, I am so upset with this story that I even can’t link in the right thread, my former comment was to go into ‘patterns’. I guess I better stop now.
Posted by: Fran | May 20 2005 8:21 utc | 68
I feel I a need to do something against this veil of darkness and doom that I feel right now and of which I assume might be felt by other too. Sometimes small symbolic actions can be healing, so I would like to offer the following idea for action:
Tonight at 9.00 pm local time light a candle as a symbol of hope, love and healing for the victims, for us, for humanity. You can put it in the window to share with others. The idea is to create a chain of light around the world. Please join, the more the better.
As I am working from home today, I already lighted a candle and will keep it on all day.
Posted by: Fran | May 20 2005 9:42 utc | 69
Air Force Academy Watch
LAT OpEd: Off We Go, Into the Christian Yonder
Conservatives have been arguing for years that the religious right is simply misunderstood. These vilified godly folks don’t want to impose their beliefs on anybody else, we’re told. They simply want to defend their traditional beliefs and practices against the aggressive impositions of a secular culture. Therefore any suggestion to the contrary is liberal hysteria or, worse, discrimination against “people of faith.”
So how do conservatives explain what’s been going on at the Air Force Academy?
As a number of newspapers have documented, the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., has essentially established evangelical Christianity as its official religion.
…
.. although the religious right doesn’t have the capacity to impose its views on the rest of the country, it certainly has the intent to do so. Conservatives may dismiss fears of a Christian theocracy as liberal hysteria. Theocracy, though, is not an inaccurate description of life at the Air Force Academy.
Barman, a round for everyone on me, and I’ll have a Guinness, if you please … ;))
My apologies for my extended and abrupt absence and lack of response … Fate had something else entirely in store for me for quite a while there …
Salut.
Posted by: Outraged | May 20 2005 12:49 utc | 72
Welcome back Outraged. It would be nice if Helpful Spook wandered into the bar too, but I don’t think
he (or she?) has ever made it to MOA.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 20 2005 12:57 utc | 73
@ Hannah K. O’Luthon
It’s good to be back Hannah, thanks.
Have been offline since, about mid July last year … unfortunately, have no knowledge re Helpful Spook.
Stumbled on MOA after visiting Billmon via a link at JuanCole …
Posted by: Outraged | May 20 2005 13:09 utc | 74
Colman, thanks for Dahr Jamail piece. I’m sending it on.
Posted by: beq | May 20 2005 14:10 utc | 75
Pepe Escobar in ATOL is quite in harmony with the recent
threads here. The concluding paragraphs:
As for the non-stop car bombings, the document says that “some [Americans] conceal a bomb in the trunk of a car while they search it in a check point and then detonate it at a distance in the right place and time, or they target certain cars by helicopter gunships so it would look like there was a person [bomber] who detonated a car bomb”.
Whether any of these claims are verifiable or true is beside the point. The point is that they are written and widely broadcast in Arabic, and they stick. Muslims, especially in the Sunni Arab world, but also all over Islam, tend to believe them in increasing numbers, considering the moral swamp the US put itself in after Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the virtual leveling of Fallujah.
So if al-Qaeda is winning Muslim hearts and minds, the Bush administration has only itself to blame. Considering all the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric and a “war on terror” bound to last indefinitely, as Vice President Dick Cheney himself said on the record, it may have been the original intent anyway.
The rest is also worth reading.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 20 2005 14:30 utc | 76
Oh stick a pin in dem Fundies & watch ’em squeal!!! Koreans Report Ease in Cloning for Stem Cells
South Korean researchers are reporting today that they have developed a highly efficient recipe for producing human embryos through cloning, and then extracting their stem cells.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers, led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University, said they used their method to produce 11 human stem cell lines that were genetic matches of patients who ranged in age from 2 to 56.
The method, called therapeutic cloning, is one of the great hopes of the stem cell field. It produces stem cells, universal cells that are extracted from embryos, killing the embryos in the process, and that, in theory, can be directed to grow into any of the body’s cell types.
Because the stem cells come from embryos that are clones of individuals, they would be exact genetic matches and less likely to be rejected by a patient’s immune system.
Posted by: jj | May 20 2005 15:18 utc | 78
I think the fundamentalists are going to flip–they’ll be the first to try and replicate themselves by cloning.
Posted by: alabama | May 20 2005 15:22 utc | 79
Well they won’t get any results if they continue to assault mules.
Posted by: beq | May 20 2005 15:25 utc | 80
A bar snack from Mark Morford.
The obvious question is, if we are the Great Liberator, the great Crammer Down of Democratic Values, if we care so deeply about making ‘Murka safer and granting the hot breath of stale freedom to the oppressed citizens of foreign nations whose leaders are abusing and oppressing and murdering them at will, why do we not bomb the living hell out of Saudi Arabia and call it a war?
Posted by: beq | May 20 2005 15:41 utc | 81
Hannah and outraged. spook’s been here many times. a rose by any other name.
Posted by: annie | May 20 2005 16:01 utc | 82
Assaulting mules, beq?…. There’s something I missing here….
Posted by: alabama | May 20 2005 16:13 utc | 83
@alabama
Bizarre Sex Habits of The Extreme Right-Wing
w/ a followup clarification by mr. horsley, The Mule Consented
Posted by: b real | May 20 2005 16:22 utc | 84
Just for the record:
US overstated China’s military spending, study says
The Defense Department may have overestimated China’s total military spending by more than two-thirds, according to a report for the Air Force released on Thursday.
The RAND Corporation, a research group that studies many issues for the Pentagon, estimated China’s military spending totaled $31 billion to $38 billion in 2003, which it said was the most recent year for which full data was available.
By contrast, the Defense Department has put the 2003 figure as high as $65 billion, 71 percent greater than the high end of RAND’s estimate.
…
RAND estimated China’s defense spending at 2.3 percent to 2.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2003. Using what it called newly available Chinese-language primary sources, it said this was 1.4 to 1.7 times the official Chinese number.
By comparison, U.S. defense spending was 3.8 percent of GDP in 2003, or about $417.5 billion.
Welcome back, Outraged, and speaking of drinks – has this joke been posted here already? if so, here it comes again:
Three brewery representatives are at a bar. The Anheuser-Busch rep says, “I’ll have a Bud Lite.” The Coors rep says, A Coors Lite for me.” The Guinness man says, “Heck, I’ll make it unanimous – give me a glass of ice water too.”
Posted by: mistah charley | May 20 2005 16:41 utc | 86
@mistah – good one 🙂 – whenever I am in the states I have to look for imports or a decent microbrew.
On China: War with China? would be stupid says Lind. He is right of course.
thanks colman for the dahr jamail, wonderful, truly heartbreaking
Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 20 2005 18:28 utc | 88
“Bizarre sex habits of the Extreme Right Wing”?? Shouldn’t that be titled extremist finds his mate? In fact, we should pass laws to restrict sex by Theos & Reactionaries to mules.
To unbreak a few hearts, has everyone seen the baby zonkey?
Posted by: jj | May 20 2005 19:34 utc | 89
Former Reagan Asst. Treasury Secretary Calls For Bush Impeachment
A Reputation in Tatters
by Paul Craig Roberts
George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America’s reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this point the only way to restore America’s reputation would be to impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the United States.
America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable.
As intent as Republicans were to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual affair, they have a blind eye for President Bush’s far more serious lies. Bush’s lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, injured and maimed tens of thousands more, devastated a country, destroyed America’s reputation, caused 1 billion Muslims to hate America, ruined our alliances with Europe, created a police state at home, and squandered $300 billion dollars and counting.
Full Link:
LINK
Posted by: FlashHarry | May 21 2005 1:30 utc | 90
Conservatives, like Mr. Roberts, who are true to their convictions, and who have the balls to enunciate them, deserve our thanks.
Remember: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Posted by: FlashHarry | May 21 2005 1:35 utc | 91
i’ve lit a candle,seems like such a small thing but i have finally stopped crying.i wish there was something more i could do other than screaming at everyone i come in contact with that this must stop.i’ve protested when i could,signed so many petitions,made so many phone calls,written so many letters i’ve lost count.still i yearn to do something more.i feel i’m on a slow boat to nowhere.
Posted by: onzaga | May 21 2005 2:03 utc | 92
@Onzaga:
Just keep putting the steam or oar to it.
This will work out.
Posted by: FlashHarry | May 21 2005 2:08 utc | 93
U.N. report says biodiversity on decline
MONTREAL – Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate and human activity is to blame, according to an international report.
The report released Thursday is the second of seven reports billed as the world’s largest study of changes to Earth’s ecosystems and the impact on humans. It is the result of five years of collaboration between 1,360 experts from 95 countries around the world.
Human activity is responsible for a reduction of biodiversity which degrades ecosystems and penalizes other groups of people, especially the poorest who depend most on them, according to the report presented at McGill University in Montreal to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity….
Posted by: Nugget | May 21 2005 5:24 utc | 94
Everyone will be so reassured to know this.
WASHINGTON: The United States government does not want billboards in space.
The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed to amend its regulations to ensure that it can enforce a law that prohibits “obtrusive” advertising in zero gravity.
“Objects placed in orbit, if large enough, could be seen by people around the world for long periods of time,” the FAA said in a regulatory filing.
Currently, the FAA lacks the authority to enforce the existing law.
For instance, outsized billboards deployed by a space company into low Earth orbit could appear as large as the moon and be seen without a telescope, the FAA said. Big and bright advertisements might hinder astronomers.
“Large advertisements could destroy the darkness of the night sky,” regulators said.
(For reference: link)
Posted by: jj | May 21 2005 5:55 utc | 95
But less reassured to read this.
The forests are the lungs of the globe. Hell, does a globe really need lungs? I don’t know – do we really need to breathe oxygen??
Which will it be BigMacs or Oxygen?
Posted by: jj | May 21 2005 6:29 utc | 96
@ annie I guess I’m too dumb to recognize an alias, but am glad that spooky “expertise” is still “on tap” here.
@ Flash Harry Conservatives like Paul Roberts are the reason I thought Bush couldn’t win in 2004. I agree that we should make common cause with them in opposing the war in Iraq and erosions of civil liberties. Questions like socialized medicine and universal access to education can be taken up later.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 21 2005 6:54 utc | 97
Was Tom Waits was channeling Horsley when he sang, “You got to get behind the mule…In the morning and plow…” hmmmm.
Now it makes me wonder about the meaning of “Big in Japan.”
Posted by: fauxreal | May 21 2005 7:59 utc | 98
For anyone who’s after a fairly in-depth public domain reference on the ‘modern’ Chinese military:
Chinese Defence Today
Posted by: Outraged | May 21 2005 8:56 utc | 99