Peter’s Blog

Condoleezza Rice Must GO

You can make a good argument that most senior members of the Bush Administration are war criminals. It’s small consolation that Alberto Gonzales can’t get a job.

Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill - New York Times

The Senate proclaimed a fierce bipartisan resolve two weeks ago to help American homeowners in danger of foreclosure. But while a bill that senators approved last week would take modest steps toward that goal, it would also provide billions of dollars in tax breaks — for automakers, airlines, alternative energy producers and other struggling industries, as well as home builders.
The tax provisions of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which consumer groups and labor leaders say amount to government handouts to big business, show how the credit crisis, while rattling the housing and financial markets, has created beneficiaries in the power corridors of Washington.

It also shows how legislation with a populist imperative offers a chance for lobbyists to press their clients’ interests.

Every day is government handout day!

BBC NEWS | Africa | Mugabe party demands poll recount

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party has asked electoral officials to delay the results of the presidential poll and to recount votes, reports say.State media said the governing Zanu-PF party requested a recount because there had been “errors and miscalculations”.

Bernanke Nods at Possibility of a Recession - New York Times

In his bleakest economic assessment to date, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Wednesday that the American economy could contract in the first half of 2008, meeting the technical definition of a recession, and he encouraged Congress to help homeowners caught up in the mortgage crisis.

Unemployment is going up, the housing market is in freefall, the currency keeps sliding, you have just offered unprecedented loan guarantees of tens of billions of dollars to (previous) titans of the the financial industry – why yes, the economy just might, perhaps, potentially, eventually, in the worst case, with many qualifications see some trouble! What would really wow me would be if there wasn’t a recession. Way to go to all those ‘prudent’ reporters (The Economist especially) that have held off from saying the US economy is in recession until now.

The triumph of ugliness - National - smh.com.au

“Political correctness wants us to believe that democracy and good taste are compatible, but they are not.”

In Washington, a Split Over Regulation of Wall Street - New York Times

The Treasury Department is rushing to complete its own blueprint for overhauling what is now an alphabet soup of federal and state regulators that often compete against each other and protect their particular slices of the industry as if they were constituents.

But maybe they are constituents, or more. For instance, Michael Powell was the head of the FCC and ruled on some issues involving AOL. His father, Colin Powell, was a one-time member of AOL’s board.

Update: On the second page of the article there is this telling bit of information.

Except for the Federal Reserve, all of the federal bank agencies receive funding from fees paid by member institutions, and some specialists have long argued that the agencies competed with each other to woo institutions with lighter regulation.

Pakistani Party’s Leader Chooses a Prime Minister - New York Times

The Bush administration has made it clear in strong but indirect ways, lawyers say, that it opposes the restoration of the chief justice because of fears that Mr. Musharraf, already weakened by the overwhelming vote against his party, would be cornered by Mr. Chaudhry.

“He may be a bastard, but he’s our bastard.”

In other Pakistan news, Naked Punch 10, whose editorial I posted earlier here, can now be purchased from the Naked Punch website. I also just uploaded Naked Punch Asia, a magazine produced in Pakistan by Qalandar and other pro-democracy activists. It can be downloaded from the main Naked Punch page.

Japan whale experiments bizarre: report - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

A review of the controversial scientific research conducted by Japan and its whalers has uncovered a list of “bizarre” and useless experiments, including how to cross breed cows with whales.Scientists have analysed 43 research papers produced by Japan over 18 years, finding most were useless or esoteric.

The scientific research included injecting minke whale sperm into cows eggs, and attempts to produce test-tube whale babies, News Limited newspapers report.

Oh, and the whales killed for ’scientific tests’? Their meat ends up in markets but apparently most of the population has lost interest in it – apparently it doesn’t sell well (I’m afraid I don’t have a link right now).

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush vetoes interrogation limits

US President George Bush says he has vetoed legislation that would stop the CIA using interrogation methods such as simulated drowning or “water-boarding”.

Classy move, George.

(Say his name with some real pop to the B)

The Collected Controversies of William F. Buckley