Economic Freedom

How Greenspan Went Wrong--and How to Make It Right - Forbes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:35:00 +0000

Alan Greenspan allowed the overheating of the housing market. He wanted to help the economy, so he lowered interest rates again and again. This induces inflation and pushed the US dollar lower. Bernake followed the weak dollar push and allowed the price of oil to climb to the stratosphere.

Steve Forbes sums it up: Greenspan wasn't satisfied with his powerful job; he played God.

How It Went Wrong--and How to Make It Right - Forbes.com:

The chief rap against Greenspan is that he loosened money too much after the high-tech bubble burst in 2000--01 and kept it loose even when the economy began to recover vigorously in 2003. The former chairman has also been criticized for the Fed's failure to crack down on growing abuses in the mortgage lending market.

... This is a misbegotten view of what central banking's main mission should be. The Federal Reserve should have two key tasks--and only two: preserving the integrity of the dollar and dealing vigorously with financial panics to limit unnecessary damage.

Greenspan's woes came about precisely because he lost sight of the Fed's prime job: ensuring a stable dollar. In the late 1990s Greenspan inadvertently tightened up. The most sensitive barometer of market mistakes is gold. During that time the yellow metal plunged to a low of $250 an ounce. Other commodities crashed, with oil dropping to nearly $10 a barrel. For a time the dollar became too dear, which contributed to the 2000--01 recession. When it became clear--just before George W. Bush was sworn in as President on Jan. 20, 2001--that the economy was skidding, Greenspan realized his mistake and started to reverse gears.

But he stayed too easy, even when the economy was back on track. In 2004 gold began to surge well above its 12-year average, and oil began its long, rapid ascent, as did all other commodities. The dollar weakened not only against gold but also against other currencies, such as the yen, the Swiss franc and the pound. With money easy, the already buoyant U.S. housing market began to go berserk as lending standards started to decline precipitously.

See also: Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve, by William A. Fleckenstein with Frederick Sheehan. Other sources: Robert Campbell; Inside Mortgage Finance.

Burma/Myanmar government refuses aid workers

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:22:00 +0000

The government of Burma only cares about its control of its country. It is refusing workers who bring aid and has confiscated aid brought to the country.

UN halts aid to Myanmar after junta seizes supplies:
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)—The United Nations blasted Myanmar's military government Friday, saying its refusal to let in foreign aid workers to help victims of a devastating cyclone was "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian work.

While the junta dithered and appeared overwhelmed by last Saturday's disaster, more than 1 million homeless people waited for food, shelter and medicine. Many crammed into Buddhist monasteries or just camped out in the open.

Entire villages were submerged in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, with bodies floating in salty water and children ripped from their parents' arms. At least 62,000 people are dead or missing, state media reported, and aid groups warned that thousands of children may have been orphaned and the area is on the verge of a medical disaster.

... "Believe me the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area. The government only cares about its own stability. They don't care about the plight of the people," said Yangon food shop owner Joseph Kyaw, one of many residents angry at the regime for doing little to help them recover from the storm's destruction.

Great Radio - Rush channeling Clinton - Put yourself in my shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:08:00 +0000

Rush channeled what poor Bill Clinton is thinking in a monologue today. It is the King at his best. It is so good that competitor talk-show host Hugh Hewitt played it today. You can read it at the link, but to listen to the audio requires a paid subscription to Rush's web site.

What Bill Clinton Was Thinking :
RUSH: I received an e-mail, ladies and gentlemen, during the break. "Rush, your monologue to women in the last hour was funny as hell. It was very brilliant. But I think you're misunderstanding Bill Clinton standing behind his wife frowning and looking bored. Could you try to look at it from his perspective?" And that's all the e-mail said. So I got to thinking about that: What would Bill Clinton say if he'd heard my monologue to women? Because that e-mail got me to thinking. It might go something like this: (doing extended Clinton impression)

"Hey? Hey, Limbaugh! I heard that monologue that you did to women, talking about me sitting back there looking all depressed and down in the dumps, like I had sunburn and so forth. Come on, Rush! You're a guy. You gotta look at it from my perspective. Where did I come from? I came from the swamps. I came from nothing. I mean, I came from poor people. Nothing, nothing. Arkansas, Limbaugh, I came from -- and I rose up. I rose up to become president of the U-nited States of America. I did. I overcame obstacles like you can't believe.

"'She stood by her man,' everybody is saying, because she stood by me. What about me? You think I didn't stand by her? How many guys -- you included, Limbaugh -- how many of you ditched your first wives? How many of you guys ditched your second wives? You know my wife sounds just like your first wife and second wife probably put together, but I -- I -- stuck in there. And look what's happened to me? I presided over one of the greatest periods of prosperity and peace the world has known! I got my daughter out there. My daughter! My daughter is saying my wife will be a better president than I could be, and I can't say anything about that, Limbaugh. I can't say anything about it. My daughter is out there disrespecting me, and I gotta sit there and smile? You want me to smile standing behind those two? You want me to stand there behind a loser who couldn't run a smart campaign if her life depended on it?

"She had no plan after February 5th, Limbaugh! Do you understand that? She thought she was going to have to it wrapped up by February 5th. She had no plan! That's why she's in this sit'ation. I'm supposed to stand back there and I'm supposed to smile.? Look at me! I've lost all my black friends. I was 'the first black president.' I have to sit here and I have to listen as this rookie out of Chicago gets to be the first black president. Everybody knows I was. This guy is the biggest lightweight I have run into. I'm called a racist! I was the first black president. I had Maya Angelou do that poem, 'A River, A Rock, A Tree,' at my inauguration; and now Oprah is running around throwing birthday parties with Maya Angelou and not inviting me. My God, Limbaugh, you have no clue what this is like! I'm supposed to sit there and listen to my daughter insult me by saying my presidency would be nothing compared to my wife's? I'm supposed to stand behind her, and I'm supposed to look happy?

"Here's another thing, Limbaugh. I bet you haven't thought of this. There have been 43 presidents of the United States. Forty-three. And I, I'm the first damn one of them whose wife wanted the damn job, too; and I gotta sit there and act like, 'Whoa, that's great, honey! What can I do to help you?' This woman has been trying to take over every day of my life! Everything I've done she tried to take over. She's held everything that every other husband does over my head and demanded payback for it. I'm supposed... I get shipped out into the dregs of North Carolina! You saw me. They had me in the back porches in the sticks talking to 20 people at a time. I'm supposed to help her win North Carolina? All this time I'm being called a racist. You know how humiliating it was, Limbaugh? You commented on this. I know you know. I was dispatched to someplace called Whiteville, North Carolina, in the midst of this campaign -- and my wife doesn't even have the courage.

"She may thank me up there, but she doesn't talk about how great I am. She praises her mother; she praises Chelsea. You saw that picture Drudge had up on his site of Chelsea. She can't draw a crowd. What did she have, 20 people there? I can outdraw my daughter any time, but I am the one...that's getting all the grief here? And you expect me...? I mean, I've done more for women -- I've done more women -- than Hillary could ever think of doing; and I'm supposed to sit there and act happy? I swear! People have lost their ability to understand how tough it has been for me. All that scandal stuff that wrecked my presidency, what was it? You think that was my fault? That scandal stuff, you think that was my fault? Hillary's billing records show up on my watch in the White House in the Map Room, and that somehow is my fault? Hillary wants to fire everybody in the travel office. Hell, I don't know what's going on in there!

"I'm president. I haven't got time for that kind of mundane stuff. She's firing everybody in the travel office. Real estate deals? She was always so obsessed with money, Limbaugh, you can't believe it. That Whitewater deal? She messed around with the McDougals. All that was about getting rich quick -- and I let her have health care. I let her do whatever she wanted with health care, and she botched it; and she's the reason that we lost the House in 1994! It wasn't me. And I'm supposed stand behind her and act like I'm happy I'm standing behind a loser? You can sit here and you can talk to these women all you want. Let me give you my perspective on this, Limbaugh. You're me. You're president of the United States, surrounded by all kinds of women -- women of great passion. So on one hand I got women of great passion; on the other hand my wife. What would you do? Now, you know, guys out there understand what I'm going through. They understand what I'm talking about.

"But I really resented that monologue you did talking about how all these liberal guys are cheating on Hillary. It's up to her to do something on her own for once, isn't it? Limbaugh, do you know how embarrassing it is for me to understand that you did more for her in this campaign than I could do? That bothers me more than you will ever know. If they'd have let me have my way I could have taken Obama out of this in the first week; I could have done it even before Jeremiah Wright showed up. Certainly after Jeremiah Wright showed up I could have handled this. But noooo, no! They didn't want me anywhere near it. Ickes, Wolfson, all these people -- people I kicked out of my administration -- are a bunch of hacks. This is the thanks I get. If it hadn't been for me being elected president, my wife... If it weren't for my last name that she has, she wouldn't be known by anybody in this country, and I gotta sit here and you tell me I'm supposed to be happy standing behind a lo-ser?

"Now, where in the hell were we last night? We've been traveling so much, I don't even know. (sigh) These women out there, they used to have me in their dreams. You remember all those stories about the power is "crackling in my jeans"? You remember all that? And now I've become a joke! I'm a laughingstock. And now you even out there. You tell people I hit on your date. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Hit on your date in the Kobe Club in New York. Ha-ha, you wish Limbaugh you wish you dated somebody I cared enough about to be able to do that. These women, they're mad, and they're bitter. They used to love me! They used to love me. They used to crave me. They used to crave about me. They used to promise me that they would give Lewinskys in exchange for keeping abortion legal, and now they want to abort me. You put yourself in my shoes."

Jerry Yang's Foolish "Victory" at Yahoo

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:34:00 +0000

Yahoo's rejection of the bid by Microsoft to buy it for $45 billion is the dumbest business deal of this year. Jerry Yang was said to have won by rejecting Microsoft. He lost. He cannot make his company have the value that Microsoft was offering - 62% premium on its market value. He was ahead 62%; he had won already. But he chose defeat instead.

Holman Jenkins describes the mess: Business World - WSJ.com:

Congratulations to Steve Ballmer. Not many CEOs would have the nerve – humility, cold-bloodedness, whatever – to float a gotta-have takeover offer, then back away over the difference between $33 and $37 a share.

Not many CEOs would have been willing nakedly to advertise strategic vulnerability and faulty execution vis-a-vis a rival like Google, then fail to consummate the deal marketed to investors as the remedy for that vulnerability and faulty execution.

Even more so because of Mr. Ballmer's Murdochian approach: He came at Yahoo with a rich 62% premium designed to foreclose a rival suitor and confront the Yahoo board with a choice of accepting Microsoft's terms or serving up a big ugly stock price drop to Yahoo's suffering shareholders. By laying such a dramatic premium on the table, he also sent a message to his own Microsoft shareholders that said: "This is the only way I see forward."

But Mr. Ballmer didn't count on Jerry Yang, whose idea of what his company was worth became inflated by the perception that Microsoft needed it so much. When Mr. Yang said Microsoft's offer "undervalued" Yahoo, he meant it underestimated Yahoo's value to Microsoft, not to anybody else.

Read on at the original.

And Fake Steve Jobs does it with drama.

Says here that Jerry Yang is facing a shareholder rebellion and possible lawsuits for failing to make a deal with the Borg. Money quote: "Disillusioned shareholders are bound to question whether the rejection of Microsoft's sweetened offer was driven more by emotion and ego than sound business sense."

Um, yes they are. And for good reason. FWIW, Jerry called me last night. Crying. He'd been on the phone getting screamed at by Wall Street people. And by Yahoo employees who apparently are being really abusive. In men's rooms all over the Yahoo campus a nasty new drawing is popping up, depicting Jerry Yang with his tongue hanging out, his legs pulled up and both thumbs firmly positioned in his ass.

Jerry's like, Steve, dude, I know I can turn this company around. I just need a little more time. I've got it all mapped out. First we'll do another 100-day review period to review our operations and re-review the review we did a few months ago; then we'll have a 100-day listening period; then a 100-day period to digest what we've heard when we're listening and incorporate that data into the data we gathered during our review; then a 100-day period to develop a new strategy; then a 100-day period to explain the new strategy to employees; then a 100-day period to reorg the company and start rolling out the foundations of the new strategy to maximize shareholder value and pursue ways to better leverage our opportunities in the still very young online advertising market where we continue to believe we are well-positioned with a unique strategy; then a 100-day period to finish the reorg and roll out the second half of the new strategy. I mean it's pretty simple stuff."

I'm like, Jerry, dude, I'm not very good at math and to be honest I kind of lost track of what you were saying because I put down the phone at one point so I could check myself out in the mirror, but I think that plan is going to take something like fifteen years, isn't it?

Hypocrisy Alert - If gas guzzlers are so evil, why does Obama keep - Update riding in them?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:35:00 +0000

If gas guzzlers are so evil, why does Obama keep riding in them?

Michelle Malkin

There he goes again. Barack Obama is lambasting Detroit’s Big 3 automakers again for manufacturing SUVs. He attacked the car companies over the weekend for making the “mistake” of investing in SUVs and large trucks instead of producing more fuel-efficient vehicles. Obama also bragged about his Big 3- bashing speech a year ago that delivered “the kind of truth-telling we need from the next president.”

A truth-telling reminder of the gas-guzzling car Obama himself was driving before eco-hypocrisy caught up with him:

His own car: Chrysler 300C
Output: 340 hp, 390 lb-ft
EPA fuel economy, city/highway: 17/25 (17/24 AWD)

His fancy wheels got less than the standard 27 mpg that he now whines is too low.

After his do-as-i-say-ism was exposed, he traded in his beast for a Ford Escape Hybrid.

But on the campaign trail, to this day, it’s still the bigger the better. [photo of Him getting into a shiny black monster SUV]

Obama’s eco-hypocrisy emission standard: High.

Update

The London Daily Mail documents many more eco-hypocrites:

- John Travolts owns 5 jets.
- Sting travels with a retinue of 750 people.
- Chris Martin of Coldplay brags about low-impact tours. But he flies home and back multiple times during one "tour."
- Leonardo DiCaprio the Learjet liberal, flies "as much as possible on commercial," which is infrequently.
- Brad and Angelina criss-cross the country in their private jets.
- Barbra Streisand tells us to cut down on laundry. She flies on private jets.
- Madonna is really trying. Her carbon footprint is 100 times the average Brit.
- Prince Charles brought 14 people with him when he traveled to the US to accept an environmental award. And his sons travel the UK in military Chinook helicopters.

Taxes to slow the economy - Worked for Pres. Jimmy

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:17:00 +0000

It failed before; it retired President Jimmy. So let's try it again.

If you want to cause less of something you tax it to death. Do we want to kill oil - exploration, production, transportation, retailing? Then tax it. Amity Shales tells us the problems with the "windfall profits tax" on big, bad oil companies.

Bloomberg

Not Much Revenue

The first is that such taxes tend to yield disappointing revenue. Back in 1980, lawmakers were riled over the news of Arab Light hitting $36 a barrel, up from just $14 in 1978.

Congress, the world's worst economic forecaster, began to envision an endless increase in the price of oil and an endless gusher of revenue. Lawmakers imposed a levy of as much as 70 percent based on a per-barrel increase over a designated base price.
Carter wasn't necessarily comfortable with the recent ending of price controls. And he knew that Mobil Oil Corp. and other oil companies were excited about future discoveries.

Now he consoled himself with the thought that this windfall tax would take the profit of such discoveries from such irritating petrocrats.
Of course, oil prices didn't surge -- in fact, they dropped. There was something at work that lawmakers hadn't thought of. The oil-price increases had been partly a monetary event, reflecting the inflation that the new Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Volcker, was then vanquishing.

Quiet Death

Some would argue that inflation plays the same role in goosing commodity futures prices today. By 1986 oil prices had collapsed. Disappointing windfall tax revenue reflected that.

At the Cato Institute, authors Jerry Taylor and Peter van Doren reckon that the windfall profits tax generated $40 billion or so, instead of the $175 billion once projected. By 1988, embarrassed lawmakers allowed the tax to die a quiet death.

But in the course of its life, the tax did plenty of damage. As a Congressional Budget Office paper from 1983 pointed out, the levy early on proved itself an administrative nightmare since it effectively required the collection of ``detailed information on each individual oil-producing property in the United States.''

What's more, the tax so depressed business activity that it had an effect on the general economy.

Experts Baffled

But in 1980 the economy's refusal to recover was baffling some economists. One of their conclusions, published in the New York Times, was that the windfall-profits tax was being passed along to consumers, reducing disposable income and so demand. In other words, it was doing the opposite of what the tax-rebate checks are supposed to be doing this month and next.

Specifically, the Windfall Tax made investment and production at domestic oil companies more expensive. Mobil was right. You needed incentives to want to drill. That deterrent slowed the sort of research that might have made energy less expensive earlier.

Satellite Indicates 23-Year Global Cooling

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:16:00 +0000

Warming? No. Cooling. It's the science, Albert Gore, Jr. Look at the data.

CFP: New Jason Satellite Indicates 23-Year Global Cooling:

Now it’s not just the sunspots that predict a 23-year global cooling. The new Jason oceanographic satellite shows that 2007 was a “cool” La Nina year—but Jason also says something more important is at work: The much larger and more persistent Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has turned into its cool phase, telling us to expect moderately lower global temperatures until 2030 or so.

For the past century at least, global temperatures have tended to mirror the 20-to 30-year warmings and coolings of the north-central Pacific Ocean. We don’t know just why, but the pattern of the last century is clear: the earth warmed from about 1915 to1940, while the PDO was also warming (1925 to 46). The earth cooled from 1940 to 1975, while the PDO was cooling (1946 to 1977). The strong global warming from 1976 to 1998 was accompanied by a strong and almost-constant warming of the north-central Pacific. Ancient tree rings in Baja California and Mexico show there have been 11 such PDO shifts since 1650, averaging 23 years on length.

Cut the cruelest tax

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:37:00 +0000

The cruelest tax of all is the property tax. It's the equivalent to taxing the air we breathe. You can't live in your home without paying hundreds per month.

Floyd Brown is doing something about it and needs help.

Tax Fight:
Save your home. Cut property taxes now!

The League of Washington Taxpayers has sponsored
Initiative 1030 which will cut your property taxes by
30 percent beginning in 2009.

No starvation for fuel, Al

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Demon ethanol, an icon of the left called it, has raised the prices of corn, rice and other staple grains. It bothers us Americans. But in third-world countries it is breaking people. There have been huge price increases that caused riots in Haiti, protests in the Philippines, and other countries.

But the intent is to help the environment. Albert Gore, Jr., has pure motives. How is it going? Not well.

American Thinker Blog:

Big science is starting to agree that ethanol production is hurting, not helping the environment. According to an article in today’s Washington Post by Steven Mufson entitled “Global Food Crisis; Siphoning Off Corn to Fuel Our Cars ”

“Although ethanol was once promoted as a way to slow climate change, a study published in Science magazine Feb. 29 concluded that greenhouse-gas emissions from corn and even cellulosic ethanol "exceed or match those from fossil fuels and therefore produce no greenhouse benefits." By encouraging an expansion of acreage, the study added, the use of U.S. cropland for ethanol could make climate conditions dramatically worse. And the runoff from increased use of fertilizers on expanded acreage would compound damage to waterways all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.” [Emphasis added]

SCIENCE MAGAZINE is the official publication of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, www.aaas.org, a peer-reviewed academic journal with very high scientific prestige equivalent to NATURE, so Al Gore cannot claim it is under the control of the evil oil industry.

Poland launches campaign to lure back migrant workers

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:50:00 +0000

The ultimate resource's value continues to increase. The term was from Julian Simon's conclusion from studying resources. Raw materials have no value until people find use for them. There is no natural resource, only resources made valuable by people. And the most valuable resource is - people.

In Poland economic growth has increased the demand for labor. In past years they were glad to see their people leave for employment in Western Europe. Today they need them back. Poland is advertising for them! Good news.

Poland launches campaign to lure back migrant workers - Home News, UK - The Independent:

For nearly four years, Britain's construction and hospitality industries have flourished thanks to the influx of an estimated one million Polish workers – but now Poland wants them back. The Warsaw government is so worried about a national labour shortage in the professions that it plans to advertise in the UK to encourage expatriate Poles to return to the country that many of them left after it joined the European Union.

According to Polish media reports, the adverts will soon appear in English and Polish-language newspapers in this country. They are part of a wider campaign by the newly elected government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who swept to power six months ago with a pledge to encourage migrant workers to return.

Big Jim McDermott loses and pays $1 million for Republican candidates

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:30:00 +0000

My Congressman Jim McDermott provided the Republican Party with $1 million. He wasn't tried for the crime he committed; Janet Reno could never see any violation by a partisan Democrat. But he declined to settle out of court for less than a tenth this amount.

Thanks, Honorable Jim.

Seattle Times Rep. McDermott pays $1 M to Rep. Boehner in taped call case

Rep. Jim McDermott has paid more than $1 million to House Minority Leader John Boehner, ending a decade-long dispute over an illegally taped telephone call.

McDermott, a Seattle Democrat, paid $1,093,297 to the Ohio Republican's campaign committee earlier this month, spokesman for the two men said Monday.

The payment is in addition to $64,000 McDermott paid Boehner in January, as part of court-ordered punitive damages in the long-running case.

A federal judge ordered McDermott to compensate Boehner for attorney's fees after Boehner sued McDermott for leaking the contents of a cell phone call that was illegally recorded in 1996.

A federal court found last year that McDermott had no right to release the call, in which Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

A Florida couple recorded the cell phone call on a radio scanner and gave the tape to McDermott, who at the time was a senior member of the House ethics committee. McDermott leaked the tape to two newspapers, which published articles on the case in January 1997.

The Supreme Court decided in December not to revisit the case.

Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Smith, said the $1.09 million payment includes $628,000 from McDermott's campaign account, and about $465,000 from McDermott's legal expense trust fund.

"Every last penny will be used to help elect Republicans," Smith said, calling it ironic that McDermott - an outspoken partisan - "is helping fund the defeat of his fellow Democrats. I wouldn't expect he'll receive a lot of thank you's come November."

The Second Time as Farce - the UN

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:22:00 +0000

The United Nations couldn't get lower? A majority controlled by presidents-for-life denounces every move by the US and Israel. Libya was elected - elected - to chair preparations for the Human Rights Council's upcoming Durban II "World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance". And Iran and Cuba are members of this committee.

Get lower than that? Here we go. Put a conspiracy theorist in a position of responsibility.

The Second Time as Farce:

IF FURTHER PROOF BE needed of the terminal decline of the United Nations as a world body that purports to advance human rights, look no further than the recent appointments of Richard Falk and Jean Ziegler by the UN's Human Rights Council (HRC). Both appointments should be of major concern to U.S. leaders disturbed by the UN's increasing failure in the arena of human rights and the blatant and widespread anti-American and anti-Israeli bias among key UN human rights officials.

Richard Falk, the Emeritus Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice at Princeton, is an outspoken, zealous critic of Israel and American foreign policy who has just been appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories by unanimous vote. Falk has compared Israeli policy to the actions of Nazi Germany, publicly defended the reputation of former Colorado University Professor Ward Churchill, and wrote the foreword to controversial theologian David Ray Griffin's 2004 conspiracy theory treatise The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11.

... Jean Ziegler, a Swiss sociology professor and UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has been an apologist for dictators such as Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe"

And "once described the West Bank as an Israeli-run "immense concentration camp."

McCain to hit hard on free trade in hard-hit town

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:56:00 +0000

Here is a man who is brining people to face the facts that aren't easy to handle. John McCain. Obama claims to do it, but does not. Obama says he will work across the aisle with people who disagree. But his record in the US Senate shows he did not work with Republicans to solve problems. Hillary did it on several issues.

But look at McCain. Trade enriches our country overall. There is friction. As we move toward making/doing what we can do best and away from what we cannot, there are some losers; they have to retrain for a more valuable skill and/or industry and sometimes have to relocate. But the whole country - and the world - is better off.

McCain has the guts to tell people on the losing end.

McCain to hit hard on free trade in hard-hit town - USATODAY.com:

Youngstown, Ohio, is a struggling steel town where jobs have been lost and free-trade deals are unpopular.

McCain, however, is prepared to argue the overall benefits of unfettered trade, aides said. "Protectionism devastates the economy," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain.

In an economic speech last week, McCain said: "When new trading partners can sell in our market, and American companies can sell in theirs, the gains are great and they are lasting."

Expelled The Movie starring Ben Stein - updated

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:53:00 +0000

It's worth sitting through this feature-length documentary for 2 minutes of it. Not that it seems long; it doesn't. But the highlights are high.

Distinguished Professor Richard Dawkins, while explaining one of his theories, wanders and gets drawn out. And the audience laughs at the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University; that's him; that's Dawkins' title. A good portion of the audience of 200 laughed at him.

Second, when asked repeatedly how life originated, his explanation: A much superior race on another planet somewhere, who evolved somehow, planted the seed of life on earth. He continues: so you expect to find signs of intelligence. That's what we call intelligent design. It's priceless, his explanation requires intelligence and he admits it.

See also: review by Brent Bozell at Townhall.

See the movie's trailer.

Look up a theater where it's playing.

Update: Here is another recounting of Dawkins' admission that intelligent beings might be the source of life on Earth.

Nine Worst Anti-business Stories of the Last 50 Years

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Some of the biggest challenges to American business come, not from competitors or regulatros, but from the media. The US media. They often approach any business story with the assumption that the entrepreneurs and managers have no concern at all for the health and safety of their customers. And there are proven cases where trusted, major news outlets have intentionally staged abuse - the "abuse by business" they are reporting on they themselves committed. More often their anti-business bias leads them to believe the worst without checking the facts.

Business & Media Institute : Nine Worst Business Stories (of the Last 50 Years) :

Some of the toughest obstacles American businesses face come not from other companies or the economy, but from the media – journalists exaggerating an issue to make a story sexier or anti-business groups influencing the media to advance their agenda. Four of the stories on the following list started with a press release or report from an environmentalist group, labor union or “consumer group.”

Those exaggerations or manipulations resulted in lost jobs, lost revenue, unfounded health scares, unnecessary government intervention, and even deaths. The Business & Media Institute has compiled a list of the nine worst business stories (of the last 50 years).

NBC and GM Trucks

Imagine being in a low-speed side-impact collision during which your truck bursts into flames, engulfing the cab and burning you alive. On Nov. 17, 1992, NBC’s “Dateline” made that fear a reality in one of the most notorious Worst Stories.

“Dateline’s” report focused on an abnormally large number of fires resulting from side-impact collisions on certain models of General Motors trucks. The trucks featured gas tanks mounted outside the frame rails, where they were, according to NBC, more vulnerable to crumpling and explosion in a side-impact hit.

To demonstrate the danger, “Dateline” commissioned test-run collisions. The first, a 40-mile-per-hour side-impact crash, resulted in absolutely no fire. But the second, a 30-mile-per-hour collision, erupted into flames engulfing both the truck and the car sacrificed for the visual effect.

There was some basis for the report itself – “Dateline” cited accident statistics showing GM trucks were “more than twice” as likely as other pickup trucks to be involved in fiery crashes. GM faced numerous lawsuits over the truck, including one civil suit in early 1993 that ended in a $105-million penalty against the manufacturer over the death of a 17-year-old Georgian.

But the powerful visual effect for “Dateline’s” report had been staged. In a press conference in February 1993, GM showed that the test runs were rigged. Screen captures taken moments before impact showed “plumes of smoke” from underneath the truck, the result of small igniters placed on the gas tank to ensure a fire.

That's just one. They also feature the Audi cars that were not in fact defective; the scare over the chemical alar in apples that crashed the price of apples at great cost to my state and I will have to do a separate entry on DDT.

Via Newsbusters

Japan's new energy source - methane hydrate

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:07:00 +0000

Good news. Japan has found a source of energy. There is methane hydrate sealed in permafrost, as I understand it, of the coast of Japan. The reserve is huge - decades of Japan's needs if it can be used. And a successful experiment indicates so.

Of course the people who talk about energy independence then fight tooth-and-nail against it are aghast.

Japan's Arctic methane hydrate haul raises environment fears - Times Online :

Japan is celebrating a groundbreaking science experiment in the Arctic permafrost that may eventually reshape the country's fragile economy and Tokyo's relationships with the outside world.

For an unprecedented six straight days, a state-backed drilling company has managed to extract industrial quantities of natural gas from underground sources of methane hydrate - a form of gas-rich ice once thought to exist only on the moons of Saturn.

In fact, the seabeds around the Japanese coast turn out to conceal massive deposits of the elusive sorbet-like compound in their depths, and a country that has long assumed it had virtually no fossil fuels could now be sitting on energy reserves containing 100 years' fuel. Critically for Japan, which imports 99.7 per cent of the oil, gas and coal needed to run its vast economy, the lumps of energy-filled ice offer the tantalising promise of a little energy independence.

...
The potential of methane hydrates as a source of natural gas has been known scientifically for some time, though how much was lurking off the Japanese coast has been confirmed only in the past couple of years. Methane hydrates are believed to collect along geological fault lines, and Japan sits atop a nexus of three of the world's largest.

In 2007 the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry declared that there were more than 1.1 trillion cubic metres (39 trillion cubic feet) of methane hydrates off the eastern coast - equivalent to 14 years of natural gas use by Japan at current rates. Academic studies suggest total Japanese deposits of 7.4 trillion cubic metres.

Gore Admits profiting from his green propheteering

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:54:00 +0000

For years, NewsBusters has reported on Al Gore's financial interests in advancing global warming hysteria around the world. Now Albert Gore, Jr., admitted that he has a conflict of interest. He recommends investments that he profits from.

Confession is only the first step, Albert. Now you have to determine that you will profit no more. Promise.

Gore Admits Financial Gain from Advancing Global Warming Hysteria - NewsBusters.org:

On March 1, while speaking at the TED Conference in Monterey, California, the Nobel Laureate admitted to having "a stake" in a number of green "investments" that he recommended attendees put money in rather than "sub-prime carbon assets" like "tar sands" and "shale oil."

This occurred as pictures of such products appeared on the screen with names of the companies involved (video available here, relevant section begins at minute 15:00.

"There are a lot of great investments you can make. If you are investing in tar sands, or shale oil, then you have a portfolio that is crammed with sub-prime carbon assets. And it is based on an old model. Junkies find veins in their toes when the ones in their arms and their legs collapse. Developing tar sands and coal shale is the equivalent. Here are just a few of the investments I personally think make sense. I have a stake in these so I’ll have a disclaimer there. But geo-thermal concentrating solar, advanced photovoltaics, efficiency, and conservation. "

As Gore spoke these words, pictures of electric cars, windmills and solar panels appeared in multiple slides on the screen with company names at the bottom such as Amyris (biofuels), Altra (biofuels), Bloom Energy (solid oxide fuel cells), Mascoma (cellulosic biofuels), GreatPoint Energy (catalytic gasification), Miasole (solar cells), Ausra (utility scale solar panels), GEM (battery operated cars), Smart (electric cars), and AltaRock Energy (geothermal power).

Jimmy Carter to Meet With Terrorist Hamas Leader in Syria - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:24:00 +0000

President Jimmy continues to move lower.

FOXNews.com - Report: Jimmy Carter to Meet With Hamas Leader in Syria

Former President Jimmy Carter is reportedly preparing an unprecedented meeting with the leader of Hamas, an organization that the U.S. government considers one of the leading terrorist threats in the world.

The Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday that Carter was planning a trip to Syria for mid-April, during which he would meet with Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, on April 18.

Deanna Congileo, Carter’s press secretary, confirmed in an e-mail to FOXNews.com that Carter will be in the Mideast in April. Pressed for comment, Congileo did not deny that the former president is considering visiting Meshal.

“President Carter is planning a trip to the Mideast next week; however, we are still confirming details of the trip and will issue a press release by the end of this week,” wrote Congileo. “I cannot confirm any specific meetings at this point in time.”

Meshal, who lives in Syria to avoid being arrested by the Israeli government, leads Hamas from his seat in Damascus, where he is a guest of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Update - Jimmy feels "quite at ease." Seattle P-I: Jimmy Carter defends meeting with Hamas:

Several State Department officials, including the secretary, Condoleezza Rice, criticized Carter's plans to talk in Syria this week with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and the group

High cost of politics over trade

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:43:00 +0000

Trade saves money for everyone. Everyone. (I don't call it "free trade," because it is always restricted - never free.)

Trade between countries allows the market to decide where is the most efficient place to produce something. Country A gets efficient at producing X, so it produces more X and less Y and Z. A trades for them - buys them. And Country B turns to produce less X and more Y or Z. Production goes to the efficient place - counting the cost of transportation. The goods we buy become cheaper.

Colombia is our friend between two big problems - Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. So let's treat Colombia like a friend and trade with them; a new trade treaty goes for the vote in the US Senate this week. The Democrats demanded protection for their union buddies, so the treaty was changed for them. But they won't accept yes.

John Fund at Wall Street Journal does a good job on the petty politics over Colombia this month.

But in truth, the Uribe government has made great strides in reducing violence in Colombia. Since 2001, the number of kidnappings has dropped by over 80%, acts of terror are down over 75%, and the murder rate associated with trade unionists is down almost 80%.

President Uribe made clear how disappointed he was that the Democratic front-runner had chosen domestic politics over geopolitical stability: "I deplore the fact that Sen. Obama . . . should be unaware of Colombia's efforts," he said in a statement. "I think it is for political calculations that he is making a statement that does not correspond to Colombia's reality."

The simple truth is that the opposition to the trade agreement--from the Democratic presidential contenders to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi--has nothing to do with reality. Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, admitted as much recently: "It's not the substance on the ground--it's the politics in the air."

Climate change hysteria brings new age of unreason - Lord Lawson

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:38:00 +0000

A prominent Brit speaks out.

Lord Lawson claims climate change hysteria heralds a 'new age of unreason' - Telegraph

One of the striking features of how concern over global warming has risen to the top of our political agenda is the extraordinary unanimity with which it has been taken up by our political establishment.

Not only have our main political parties unquestioningly accepted the more extreme claims of the threat posed by global warming, as exemplified by the Treasury's Stern Review or Al Gore's alarmist film. Our politicians have similarly endorsed without a murmur all the steps now being taken to avert this predicted catastrophe - which, if carried through, can only mean a dramatic transformation in our way of life.

Only one senior political figure in Britain has dared stand apart from this stifling orthodoxy: Nigel Lawson, now Lord Lawson of Blaby, who as Margaret Thatcher's Chancellor presided over the renaissance of our economy in the 1980s.

In 2005 Lord Lawson played an influential part in shaping a report on The Economics of Climate Change by the Lords economic affairs committee. It stood out as a measured but often critical appraisal both of the science behind orthodox global warming theory and of the political response to it.

In 2006, in a lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies, Lord Lawson gave a more personal view of one of the overriding political issues of our time, which he has now expanded into a book, An Appeal To Reason: A Cool Look At Global Warming.

His timing is impeccable. On one hand, we are just starting to appreciate the colossal cost of the measures being taken to meet the European Union's target of a 60 per cent cut in our CO2 emissions in the next four decades, ranging from plans to spend hundreds of billions of pounds on wind turbines to the EU's emissions trading scheme, already costing us billions through our electricity bills.

$109 million - $10 million to their OWN charity

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Do you want to be ruled by the mega-rich? Then elect Hillary.

Townhall online

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton made nearly $109 million since they left the White House, capitalizing on the world's interest in the former first couple and lucrative business ventures.
The Clintons reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years. Almost half the former first couple's money came from Bill Clinton's speeches.
The tax returns are a portrait in post-presidential success. The Clintons, who had lived in taxpayer-paid housing in the governor's mansion in Arkansas or the White House for years, left the presidency struggling with a legal defense fund stemming from a spate of investigations. They now are wealthy enough that she could lend her presidential campaign $5 million earlier this year.
The campaign released tax returns from 2000 through 2006 and gave highlights from their 2007 return. The Clintons have asked for an extension for filing their 2007 tax returns, citing the dissolution of a blind trust last year.

The Democratic presidential candidate and her husband paid $33.8 million in taxes from 2000 through 2007. They listed $10.25 million in charitable contributions during that period.

Clinton has been under pressure to release her tax returns, especially from rival Sen. Barack Obama, who posted his 2000 to 2006 returns on his campaign Web site last week. Neither Obama nor Republican Sen. John McCain has made their 2007 tax returns public, though both say they will this month.
The Clintons last made their returns public in 2000 when they reported an adjusted gross income of $416,039 for 1999. Since then, the former president has embarked on a number of business ventures and has made millions from speaking engagements and books.

The "charitable" donations were to their own charity. Good deal, give money to yourself and get a tax deduction.

Colombia sitting on big oil reserves

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Colombia in South America has large oil reserves. It shouldn't be a complete surprise. Venezuela next door has produced oil since around 1920 and is a major world source. Brazil has started high production of oil. Indeed, the headlines have been "Brazil to attain energy independence with ethanol from sugar can." But that is less than half the picture. in 2005, Brazil consumed 2,000,000 barrels of oil per day, versus 280,000 barrels of ethanol. So ethanol consumption is 1/7 that of oil. [Ethanol in Brazil]

FT.com / In depth - Colombia sitting on big oil reserves:

Colombia’s heavy oil area could hold 20bn barrels of recoverable resources, giving the country greater reserves than leading producers such as Mexico and Algeria, said its natural resources agency.

Foreign investment in Colombia’s oil and gas industry is booming, and the country hopes to lift oil production to 1m barrels a day in the next decade, from about 550,000 b/d currently.

Colombia’s heavy oil potential is dwarfed by that of its neighbour Venezuela, which is estimated to have at least 240bn barrels recoverable in its Orinoco belt region. But Colombia has the great advantage of welcoming foreign investment.

It is one of the few countries with significant resources becoming more accessible to international companies, and capable of growth in oil exports.

The ANH, Colombia’s national hydrocarbons agency, is on Wednesday setting out details of Colombia’s second licensing round in London, following presentations in Houston last week.

Larger companies have been invited to bid for heavy oil exploration acreage in the Llanos Basin, towards the border with Venezuela.

Fox Has Done Fairest Job Covering Campaign - Hillary Supporter Ed Rendell

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:52:00 +0000

Fox News is doing the best job - being fairest. And this is from Clinton partisan Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. How does he dare say it?

Hillary Supporter Ed Rendell: Fox Has Done Fairest Job Covering Campaign | NewsBusters.org:

Speaking with host Steve Doocy, Rendell said the following (h/t TVNewser via NBer Thomas Stewart):

Well, I said that I think during this entire campaign coverage starting in Iowa and up to the present, Fox has done the fairest job, has remained the most objective of all the cable networks: you hate both of our candidates. No, I'm only kidding. But, you actually have done a very balanced job of reporting the news. And, you know, some of the other stations are just caught up with the, Senator Obama who's a great guy. But Senator Obama can do no wrong, and Senator Clinton can do no right.

Tibet - Torture, hunger, mobile sterilisation units ... the brutal reality

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:31:00 +0000

Torture, hunger, mobile sterilisation units ... the brutal reality of Tibet 2008 | the Daily Mail:
British filmmakers have emerged from three months undercover in Tibet to release a terrifying portrayal of Chinese repression, including shootings, torture and the brutal sterilisation of women left maimed by crude operations.
Their film, to be shown tomorrow night as part of Channel 4's Dispatches series, was made before the recent outbreak of anti-Chinese rioting in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.

But with hundreds of jailed Tibetan protesters now in fear for their lives, the harrowing footage will add to the storm of condemnation gathering ahead of the Beijing Olympics this year.

The documentary's investigation began with the notorious 2006 shootings on the Nangpa La pass, when unarmed Tibetans trying to leave the country were gunned down by Chinese border guards. Two Tibetans were killed and 32 detained, interrogated and then sent to a labour camp 150 miles from Lhasa.

The experiences of one of those held, Jamyang Samten, now 16, gives a clue to the fate of Tibetan protesters now in the hands of the Chinese police. He told the programme makers he was given electric shocks with a cattle prod, chained to a wall and hit in the stomach by a guard wearing a metal glove.

If he made a minor mistake in his interrogation, he would be beaten with a chain. "The way the Chinese tortured was terrifying," he said.

"They beat us using their full strength. Sometimes they forced us to take off our clothes. We were locked up in a room with our arms and legs handcuffed and they beat us. The chain injured the surface but not the inside of the body.

"If they hit us with the electric baton, our entire body trembled and gradually we were unable to speak." Jamyang was eventually released and finally made it over the border to Kathmandu in Nepal after paying a guide the equivalent of £210.

Albert Gore, Jr. vs. Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Thick ice hinders controversial seal hunt - Yahoo! News:

CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island (Reuters) - Canada's annual seal hunt, which the government promised would be more humane this year, cranked up slowly on Friday because of thick ice.

The government is allowing hunters to kill up to 275,000 young harp seals on the ice floes off Eastern Canada, but only three had been reported killed on the first morning of the hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"It's a very slow start," said Phil Jenkins, spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, noting that sealing boats were finding it difficult to get to the herds because of thick ice.

MEANWHILE: Albert Gore, Jr. is getting so overheated he can only see his personal reality. If you show scientific data that counters him he calls you names.

CBS 60 Minutes

Self-avowed "P.R. agent for the planet" Al Gore says those who still doubt that global warming is caused by man - among them, Vice President Dick Cheney - are acting like the fringe groups who think the 1969 moon landing never really happened, or who once believed the world is flat.

The former vice president and former presidential candidate talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl in an interview to be broadcast this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Confronted by Stahl with the fact some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is man-made, Gore responds: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat,” says Gore. "That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off," he tells Stahl.