On PMSNBC's Morning Joe, in reference to Tina Fey's Palin skit on SNL:
"I thought it was extraordinary how well she played her and much she looked like her, I'd like her, personally I felt we didn't need the Hillary stuff, I'd like her to go even harder. I want her to decimate this woman. This woman, I can't believe there hasn't been more about it... It's just unbelievable to me this woman is actually running for vice president."
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/17/2008 12:05 ||
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On the heels of blasting John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Lindsay Lohan reportedly got a bit of a jolt from an unexpected quarter: the Obama-Biden campaign. Apparently, LiLo was interested in becoming very involved in the Democratic ticket's bid for the White House -- even offering to host a series of events appealing to younger voters.
However, a top source in the Barack Obama team tells me the actress ''is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us.''Given Lohan's past problems, plus ongoing brushes with controversy, I've learned the campaign quietly told the actress ''thanks, but no thanks,'' but in far more diplomatic terms.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/17/2008 11:54 ||
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Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai urges the international community to help end the country's economic and political crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sorry, Morgan, we are tapped out, and besides, we are in the middle of our own economic and political crisis. Maybe the chicoms are interested. They are fascinated by interesting countries like yours, the Sudan, Myanmar, Iran, and others.
Again, sorry, but times and farmin b hard.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Tok, AK ||
09/17/2008 3:18 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe talk to Iran, I heard they found a way to get around the laws of supply and demand by doing this cool deal with their money where they drop some zeros off it.
Muss be fizziks or sumten.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 3:23 Comments ||
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The family of a Saudi man who died in the custody of religious police after being apprehended on suspicion of alcohol possession were left un-vindicated Tuesday when an appeals court refused to find the officers guilty of murder.
The Saudi Court of Appeals endorsed a lower court's verdict acquitting two officers from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of homicide in a lawsuit filed by the family of the man who died in detention.
Salam al-Harisi, 28, died last year after being detained by the Commission for alleged alcohol possession. The coroner's report stated that the cause of death was a severe beating to the head that caused a six centimeter crack in his skull. His right eye was gouged out and he received another severe blow to the head.
Harisi's family accused the two officers of killing the detained man but an initial court ruling found them not guilty and they were acquitted. The lawyer for the Harisi family, Abdul-Rahman al-Laham, filed an appeal in June to protest the initial verdict that acquitted the two officers.
The appeal was based on a 1984 anti-torture treaty, to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory. Laham said that Harisi's case should be treated as an incident of torture and thus requires a severe penalty. The lawyer argued that the treaty should apply to the officers since they committed the offence while at work in their government jobs.
Laham added that article two of the treaty stipulates that every country should take all the necessary judicial and penal measures to prevent torture.
The Appeals court disagreed, reasoning in its verdict that the head is not a fatal body part and that the hand is not a weapon and that therefore the conditions of homicide do not apply.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The Appeals court disagreed, reasoning in its verdict that the head is not a fatal body part
Are they born stupid or does all that oil wealth
just let them buy stupidity easily?
That implies that they cracked this guys skull with their fists. Fat. Fucking. Chance.
The WoT is going to take a century or more.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 1:07 Comments ||
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It's not about the reasoning - the court just went and found a paper-thin excuse. The real reason is that they didn't want to find the police guilty...after all, they were just enforcing Allah's law, and if the man didn't have alcohol, then he wouldn't have been in jail, eh?
The High Court (HC) yesterday granted three months' ad interim bail to Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina and her cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in the extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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The Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) yesterday heard seven more government officials from Dhaka Power Distribution Company, former Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority, and Titas Gas who claimed to own ill-gotten wealth worth Tk 13 lakh only.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Georgia claims intercepted phone calls prove its attack against South Ossetia started 20 hours after an invasion by Russian troops.
Russia dismissed the allegations as "not serious".
The recordings released Tuesday by Georgia aimed to blame Moscow for the five-day war that killed hundreds of people. The recordings are purportedly intercepts of two exchanges between a South Ossetian border guard at the southern entrance to the Roki tunnel, and another guard at the headquarters in the South Ossetian capital.
According to the English translations of the recordings, in the first call, which purportedly began at 3:41 a.m. local time on Aug. 7, the South Ossetian guard at the tunnel says "they have moved armored personnel carriers out and the tunnel is full."
In the next call, about 10 minutes later, the guard says "armor and people" had emerged from the tunnel. Asked whether there was a lot of armor, the guard says, "Well, tanks, BMPs and those things."
Russia said the force movements referred to in the intercepts may have been a routine rotation by Russian peacekeeping forces already operating in Georgia before the war broke out. The tunnel, which connects the South Ossetia to Russia, is over 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) long. "Allegations that they have eavesdropped on someone and heard something are simply not serious,'' Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.
Ever since Georgia and Russia's engagement in a five-day war last month, both sides have tried to prove the other as the first aggressor in the hopes of shedding the blame for the death of hundreds of people.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I wish I could get a USDS schoolarship to study in Ivy Lague university and be as smart as Saakashvilli.
#3
If there was massive Russian movement, then wouldn't the Georgians have attacked them at the tunnel? No such attacks occurred. In fact, on Aug. 7, the Georgian Defense Minister went on state television to announce that his troops were acting "to restore the constitutional order," without reference to any other cause. At the time, President Saakashvili said they were moving against South Ossetia militias, and that is exactly what they did. In fact, the "Peacekeeper" barracks were a major target in the blitzkreig. Reports of the 9 in place "Monitors" of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (the US is a member state) contradicts the Georgian position on their conduct. The fog of war rises again.
#4
While it is fine to fantasize that Georgia could have attacked the Russians at the tunnel, that ignores the fact that the Russians had tactical air superiority over South Ossetia. That superiority was evidenced by shooting down Georgian UAVs going back to April and the ravaging of Georgian Air Force assets during the opening days of the conflict.
There are reports that a Georgian commando group was parachuted into the area south of the tunnel and managed to destroy a bridge and about 15 armored vehicles before being wiped out. The force that was sent to relieve them was the force that was accused of attacking the South Ossetian capital which sits astride the only road to the tunnel.
If these reports are true then Georgia owes a great deal to that group who delayed the Russian advance for 24-48 hours and gave the Georgians breathing space until world opinion could halt the Russian advance outside Tblisi.
The intercepted phone conversations serve to demonstrate that the Georgians were aware of the Russian invasion. The Georgians appear from the other reports to have acted promptly in defense of their country.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 7:42 Comments ||
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#5
"I wish I could understand you rooting for russia."
G(r)omgoru can correct me, but I believe he had emigrated from Russia to Israel.
#7
Ok, I'll try to listen more to your own brand of propaganda then, since it's obviously the better one out there.
I, for one, welcome my new russian Overlords! All hail the mighty putin (the manly, blue-eyed blond who wrestled away russia from the grip of the jooooooooo-ish oligarchs, according to my fellow gallic wingnuts). And since I'm now in agreement with the definite majority of the french reacosphère (russia = good, the only force standing against the Empire along with other nationalist regimes like iran, georgia = lackey of the Washington-Tel Aviv axis and their pipeline, bad), I'll just try not to become more Judeo-Vigilant (Judeo-Skeptic from times to times, with Judeo-Indifferent as a default mode) than I already am... because I know you already are wary of gentiles, as you said you knew about them, growing up in their midst... in jooooooooooo-friendly russia, the home of the manly blue-eyed sons of the Rus.
So, dry-witted G(r)om, thanks for the enlightening correction! Now, I know better.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo Mail account has been hacked and selected information from the account has been posted on Wikileaks, an online repository for documents.
The summary posted on Wikileaks reads thus: "Circa midnight Tuesday the 16th of September (EST) activists loosely affiliated with the group 'anonymous' gained access to U.S. Republican Party Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account gov.palin@yahoo.com and passed information to Wikileaks. Governor Palin has come under criticism for using private e-mail accounts to conduct government business and in the process avoid transparency laws."
Read the rest at the link.
See also:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/17/sarah-palins-private-e-mail-hacked-family-photos-raided/
The war on Sarah Palin continues unabated.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 19:23 ||
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Eek! Sorry this should be in Non-WOT.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 19:27 Comments ||
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If the Evil Bush/Chaney cabal did this to Obama's mail, we'd all hear Nazi, Tyrant, Dictator [well, we hear that anyway, but the point being once again its the left that acts in a Freudian manner], Violating Privacy! Conspiracy!
#3
It looks like she was using it for family business, which doesn't belong on the govt. email anyway. They called her daughter and got her voicemail, prolly would have said god knows what if she answered. They are flipping out and losing their minds, god help us all if these nutjobs win in Nov. we'll have lunatics running the country.
Posted by: Bob Glemble5143 ||
09/17/2008 23:05 Comments ||
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#4
boy if they hacked my old yahoo account and found some of ".com"s e-mail they would have cardiac arrests.....
#5
I saw the usual slime-balls on TV tonight justifying it because she might have done business on her personal account and thus might be beyond a subpoena of her govn't acct.
Aren't these the same people who wanted to protect the e-mails of terrorists?
The left just keeps getting more and more repulsive every day.
John McCains campaign says the Republican is picking up the support of a top Hillary Clinton fundraiser and member of the Democratic National Committees Platform Committee.
Lynn Forester de Rothschild has said she thinks Democratic nominee Barack Obama is arrogant and has a problem connecting with average Americans.
Rothschild is a member of the DNCs Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She was one of Clintons top fundraisers, bringing in more than $100,000 for her presidential campaign. She built a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company before marrying international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Rothschild plans to announce her support for McCain on Wednesday in Washington.
Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a personal appeal to Barack Obama: Help me grow the Democrats' Senate majority by sharing some of the $77 million you've got in the bank.
Obama's campaign said no.
Although Democratic insiders say a better deal could still come, the Obama campaign so far has agreed only to let Senate Democrats use Obama's name -- as well as those of his wife and running mate -- in mail and online fundraising pitches. The campaign has planned no joint fundraising events with House or Senate Democrats, and insiders say none is likely to be held before Election Day.
In rejecting a direct request from his Senate leader, Obama has put a fine point on the financial pressures he's feeling as the presidential race turns toward the fall. Whether Obama wins or loses, I think the next legislative session will be an interesting one for him. Payback's a bit*h.
Obama raised a record-setting $66 million in August, leaving his campaign with about $77 million in cash now. Because he has turned down public financing, he can keep raising money through Election Day. John McCain, having accepted public financing, can't do that -- but he already has the $84 million in public money in his campaign coffers.
More importantly, McCain will get substantial help from the Republican National Committee -- which has dramatically outraised its Democratic counterpart -- and the Republican Party's state and local committees.
Reid and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer had hoped at one point to get as much as $10 million from the Obama campaign. Awww.....once they had hope, now they aren't even gonna get the change on the dresser....
With 23 GOP seats up for grabs this year -- versus only a dozen Democratic seats -- Senate Democrats see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pad their majority with as many as four to seven new seats.
But to do that, they'll need money, and lots of it. While the DSCC still has a huge financial advantage over its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the geographic overlap between competitive Senate seats and the tight presidential race means the McCain campaign and the RNC will be dumping tens of millions of dollars into battleground states with competitive Senate races. This will likely help down-ballot GOP candidates and incumbents.
Matthew Miller, the DSCC communications director, did not respond directly when asked about the majority leader's discussion with Obama. "We work closely with the Obama campaign on fundraising and on field operations and political organizing," Miller said. "We have a great relationship with them."
Miller noted that Obama has done two e-mail and two direct-mail pitches to donors on behalf of the DSCC this cycle, while Biden did one earlier this month.
The Obama campaign did not have a comment at press time. Well, yeah, they were a bit busy spinning Obama's actions in Iraq...
One Democratic source familiar with the intraparty dispute over money said that fundraising e-mails and direct-mail pitches "are helpful, but we really don't care about that. We need more help than that."
Fights over money are nothing new for Democrats.
Schumer and then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel engaged in a long battle with DNC Chairman Howard Dean last cycle for funding for get-out-the-vote operations. After initially refusing to help, Dean eventually approved $5 million for House and Senate Democrats, although Emanuel and other Democratic strategists later said that more money would have made the 2006 Democratic victory even bigger.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have grumbled for months that it has been hard to orchestrate campaign events and appearances with the Obama campaign. One Democratic strategist said the campaign frequently turns down requests to have Obama appear with a Democratic incumbent or challenger, and that the events that do happen come only after some "very heavy lifting." You've got The One headlining your ticket....what more do you want? Ingrate!
In Obama's defense, Democrats note that the nominee's long primary fight with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York cut in to the time Obama otherwise would have had to enjoy his European "victory lap" mount a general election campaign. And, they say, he's so popular among Democrats that his campaign has been overwhelmed with more requests for appearances than it can possibly grant.
But having opted out of public financing, Obama also has had to spend significant time fundraising that, in the past, the Democratic candidate has used purely for politicking.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008 14:43 ||
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More than likely Sen. Obama doesn't want his name tained with the single digit popularity that the Democratic Congress is experienceing right now.
Vienna, Ohio (north of Youngstown), yesterday afternoon:
Now I believe Americas best days are ahead of us. Governor Palin and I are going to reform Wall Street. Were going to reform Washington. Im going to fight for you and Im going to lead our nation forward in the greatest periods of prosperity in its history. And lets have some straight talk. Senator Obama is not interested in the politics of hope, hes interested in his political future and thats why hes hurling in insults and making up facts about his record. Today, he claimed that the Congressional stimulus package was his idea. Thats news to those of us in Congress who supported it. Senator Obama didnt even show up to vote. He talks a tough game on the financial crisis, but the facts tell a different story. Senator Obama took more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than anyone but the chairman of the committee they answer to. And he put Fannie Maes CEO, who helped create this problem in charge of finding his Vice President. Thats not change, thats whats broken in Washington. He talked about siding with the people, siding with the people, just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends, there is no place Id rather be, than here, with the working men and women of Ohio. Im going to fight for you and together were going to win in November.
McCain also recorded this response to Babs some time ago.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/17/2008 12:58 ||
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Barack Obama partied with Hollywood celebrities Tuesday night and with the help of Oscar-winning singer and actress Barbra Streisand raised an eye-popping $9 million for his presidential campaign and the Democratic Party. The night was split into two glitzy events, a reception and dinner costing $28,500 each at the Greystone Mansion, ... not to be confused with his voter registration drive at the Graybar Hotel,
... followed by entertainment by Streisand at the nearby Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. About 250-300 people were expected at the dinner and about 800 at the entertainment, which cost $2,500 a ticket.
Dinner guests seen by reporters, or noted by waiters, included Will Ferrell, Jodie Foster, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Lee Curtis and DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Obama spent more than an hour before dinner getting his picture taken with guests. He said later that people had encouraged him to be tougher and had questioned why he was so calm in a close race against Republican John McCain.
"I'm skinny but I'm tough," he said. "I'm from Chicago and we don't play fair. Just keep steady. If we can cut through the nonsense and the lipstick and the pigs ... keep reminding everyone, Genius,
... and the silliness, then I'm absolutely convinced that we are going to win," Obama said, referring to some of the offbeat charges raised against him.
"The reason I'm calm ... is I've got confidence in the American people," he said. "I really think they want to see us do better." Standing in the courtyard of the palatial estate, he said his campaign was dedicated to people who need jobs and health care and worry about their pensions and sending children to college. "It's about those who will never see the inside of a building like this," Obama said.
He said the economic turmoil in recent days had been sobering for America. "It's reminded people that this is not a game. This is not a reality show, no offense to any of you," Obama said to laughter. "This is not a sitcom."
It was a day of contrasts for Obama. Earlier in the day, the Democratic presidential candidate spoke about the public's deepening economic anxieties and portrayed Republican challenger John McCain as out of touch with the needs of hardworking people.
Then he flew to California for a night of hobnobbing with Hollywood notables.
McCain groused about Obama mixing it up with celebrities. He told a rally in Vienna, Ohio on Tuesday that Obama "talks about siding with the people, siding with the people just before he flies off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you my friends, there's no place I'd rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio."
A night earlier, McCain was with deep-pocketed donors in Florida and raised $5 million, a fact noted by Obama's campaign. "I don't know who showed up down in Florida where he raised $5 million but my guess is that it wasn't a lot of nurses, firefighters and police officers," Obama's senior strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters. "Yeah! At least at our event, we had people who played them on TV!!"
"The whole corporate lobbying community is rallying to his side. We're going to have to struggle to keep pace. You can't challenge that group and not expect them to have a lot of money."
While the final total was not determined, Obama's campaign did not dispute estimates that the twin events would bring in $9 million for Obama and the Democratic Party. That would be his second-biggest fundraising day. Obama received $10 million from online donors the day after McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, delivered her speech at the Republican convention.
On another big fundraising night in California, Obama raised $7 million in August in San Francisco.
Obama is financing his presidential race with private contributions after abandoning a pledge to take public financing capped at $84 million. His campaign announced Sunday it had collected $66 million in August, a fundraising record for any presidential candidate in a monthlong period. By comparison, McCain raised $47 million in August, a personal best for his campaign as well. After claiming the GOP nomination, McCain accepted the $84 million in taxpayer funds allotted by the public financing system for the race.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008 09:47 ||
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#1
Glad to see that he isn't acting like a celebrity or an elitist snob.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/17/2008 12:55 Comments ||
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#3
Obama is financing his presidential race with private contributions after abandoning breaking a pledge to take public financing capped at $84 million.
There see.. its not too tough to tell the entire truth...
Posted by: Mike ||
09/17/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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#5
I hate to be grateful for McCain-Feingold, but it is really going to put a crimp in The One's style wile he has to go begging to the elite, hat in hand, during prime campaign season while Big Mac coasts on Federal $$$. At least the Messiah will start to have a little better feeling for what AIG went through. But I doubt he'll get a bail out.
Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005
John McCain joined Charles Hagel, Elizabeth Dole and John Sununu as a co-sponsor of this bill. It was killed by the Donks along with some help by some good-old-boy Trunks. In the meantime, the Obamesiah was second to only Christopher Dodd in the amount of campaign contributions received from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
It will be interesting to see how Mac puts this up Obama's gluteus maximus in the upcoming debate. I can't wait. Get out the popcorn machine.
John McCain from the Congressional Record, May 25 2006
Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation
#1
#2 in slush from Fan 'n' Fred, 1989-2008: the junior Senator from Illinois, with $126k-- even though he'd been in office only 2 years...
Wonder how much Jim Jordan gave Barack? Will Jordan disgorge his ill-gotten gains?
Posted by: tep ||
09/17/2008 2:05 Comments ||
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#2
Gonna be hard for McCain to stuff this one up the donks ass. By reading the article, it looks like it was submitted in '05 (when trunks had the majority) and never got out of committee.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 3:19 Comments ||
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Mike N.--I disagree. The margin was slim in the Senate in 2006. Take an indepth look at the actual members who killed the bill and I believe you will find that the majority of naysayers were the Donks and therefore the good intentioned Trunks could not succeed.
#4
Franklin Raines is one of 0bama's finance advisors.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
09/17/2008 9:36 Comments ||
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#5
I would go on the offensive on this. Taxpayers already know they will take it up the a$$ on this bailout and are getting pissed. Showing McCain tried to prevent it, and Bambi was one of Fannie's biggest receivers of money will cut a couple more points off Bambi's tanking numbers.
#6
The story, presented THIS way, will never appear in the MSM. The topic is not likely to come up in the debates in a way that would allow McCain to point out O'Bambi's failings.
#7
Top 12 recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign funds:
Dodd, Christopher $165,400 (Chair Banking Comm.)
Obama, Barack $126,349
Kerry, John $111,000
Bennett, Robert $107,999
Bachus, Spencer $103,300
Blunt, Roy $96,950
Kanjorski, Paul $96,000
Bond, Christopher $95,400
Shelby, Richard $80,000
Reed, Jack $78,250
Reid, Harry $77,000
Clinton, Hillary $76,050
#8
The way to get this out where the MSM has to cover it is if Sarah starts talking about it. For a time, at least, she can set the agenda any way she wishes. Fighting corruption is her claim to fame.She has plenty of entry points on this. I hope she goes for it.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 12:32 Comments ||
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#9
Well, I have just written my love letter to our worthy Senators Kohl and Feingold, telling them just what the housing crunch has done to my neighborhood (I can see three houses facing foreclosure from my front and back doors). I have reminded them of the political malfeasance behind Fannie and Freddie and challenged them to call for a special prosecutor to examine this mess. I expect to get boilerplate and platitudes back from them; but you never know.
#11
I expect to get boilerplate and platitudes back from them;
I would be extremely surprised if you got ANYTHING AT ALL back, they want to ignore it as hard as they can, and answering questions is NOT ignoring.
Their plan is to not answer (Do NOT Provide Any info or confirmation to your fears) and shortly they'll have another Flashy/shiny thing to distract you with.
OOOH look, fireworks, Vote O'Bambi into ofice, help make history.
What did you say? Mor what? Cri what? Can't hear you over all the cheering.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2008 20:18 Comments ||
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Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) is an 18th-term member of Congress, representing Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. Rep. Murtha chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Murtha's ethics violations stem from abuse of his position on the subcommittee to benefit the lobbying firm of a former long-term staffer and from threatening to block earmarks of other members for political purposes. Rep. Murtha was included as a member to watch in CREW's 2006 and 2007 reports on congressional corruption.
PMA Group
Paul Magliocchetti worked with Rep. Murtha as a senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense for 10 years. After leaving the committee, Mr. Magliocchetti founded the PMA Group, which has become one of the most prominent Washington, D.C. defense lobbying firms. Since the second quarter of 2007 campaign cycle, the PMA Group and ten of the firm's clients ranked in the top 20 contributors to Rep. Murtha, having made campaign contributions totaling $190,880. In the 2006, 2004 and 2002 cycles, PMA and its clients have given $274,649, $236,799, $279,074 in contributions respectively. In turn, many of PMA's clients have benefitted significantly from Rep. Murtha's earmarks. In the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Appropriations bill, Rep. Murtha helped steer at least $100.5 million to PMA clients--up from $95.1 million in the 2006 Defense Appropriations bill.
Continued on Page 49
#2
Oh my! What will Momma Peloski say! First Charlie Rangel and now this. With a 9% approval rating and an electon near, she simply cannot tolerant any hint of Democratic scandal. Cut the lines, Nancy. He's just pulling you down.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:20 Comments ||
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Both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin will participate in a protest on Monday of the presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadienjad, NBC News has learned.
The two politicians will not appear together at the protest but will both participate, according to those close to the organizing of this protest. The event is being organized by a coalition of groups (mostly Jewish) upset by the presence of Ahmadienjad in New York at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly and the threat Iran presents to "global security."
The protest will take place across the street from the U.N.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 0:48 Comments ||
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Clinton aides were furious.
"Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event," said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines. "Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending."
#6
Hillary thought she would be the media darling at this event. When she found out Sarah Palin would be there she new she would get second billing so she left in a Huff, which is similar to an Edsil.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/17/2008 7:39 Comments ||
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#7
The Gathering of Eagles will be there distributing thousands of copies of the 'Obsession' documentary. It should be interesting.
DanNY
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 7:48 Comments ||
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#10
No Obama rep at the affair? Palin gets the protest to herself? Beautiful.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:13 Comments ||
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#11
and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event
So ... wouldn't having notable representatives there from both major political parties make it at least a "bi-partisan" (if not a "beyond partisan") event? Having both of them there would have been an even better message to the world, imo.
MANGALORE: The members of the New Life Fellowship Trust, which has been the main target of the Bajrang Dal for allegedly distributing seditious literature during its meetings, is pained that even the Christian community is accusing them of forcible conversions.
"We admit that there are conversions. But they are not with inducement. It's happening out of people's own will after 'inner experience' with the Lord, like me," said NLFT pastor Donald P Menezes, an executive committee member of Karnataka Missions Network. "According to the Bible, it's a sin to offer inducement and convert people."
"Please don't kill us!"
Menezes, a former bank manager, became a 'born again believer' in 1979 and took pastorship as his fulltime profession after quitting his job in 1987.
"People from different religions come to our meeting for healing. They have been cured of deadly diseases like cancer," he claimed. Regarding allegations of foreign funding, Menezes said NLFT gets donations from its members worldwide. "My son from America, who is also a member of NLFT, sends money. Actually we all give 1/10th of our earnings to this trust," he said, adding that their accounts were open to scrutiny for the government. "We have nothing to hide."
On the 'Satyadarshini' pamphlet, which Bajrang Dal claimed as NLFT's, Menezes said he heard about "it four days back and saw it physically today" (when this correspondent showed him a copy.)
Menezes also showed NLFT literature, which is all about Jesus Christ. "We don't believe in derogatory remarks against any religion, because it again amounts to sin," he said.
He challenged Bajrang Dal to come with proof that they actually got the controversial literature from a NLFT centre. There are two centres in the city active for the past 25 years.
Its Moodabidri centre was attacked in April 2002 and got police protection during Sunday services. Even on Sunday, a police call alerted them and the deflected attack was on Adoration Monastery. Menezes said about 500 people attend its services in English (150), Kannada (250), Konkani (80) and Malayalam (20).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That hasn't really been the Christian M.O. for the last 5 centuries. It's a muzzy thing, you wouldn't understand. I know I don't.
JERUSALEM (AP) - TV exit polls say Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won a clear victory in the party primary election to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The polls were released a few minutes before the end of voting Wednesday night. For an outright victory, Livni needed 40 percent of the vote. The three TV exit polls gave her between 47 percent and 49 percent.
Her nearest rival, former defense minister and military chief Shaul Mofaz, received 37 percent in all three polls.
Livni is Israel's chief negotiator in peace talks with Palestinians. She favors diplomacy to solve Israel's problems, although she has said she would not hesitate to pull the trigger if necessary.
Supporters at her headquarters cheered when the TV stations broadcast their polls simultaneously.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP)Israel's ruling Kadima Party voted for a new leader Wednesday, choosing between Tzipi Livni, a popular foreign minister who would be the nation's first female prime minister in more than 30 years, and Shaul Mofaz, a gruff ex-general who favors a tough line against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians.
The winner will likely be Israel's next prime minister, replacing Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down over corruption charges.
The biggest issue at stake was the future of Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians, with Livni seen as far more amenable to a final deal than Mofaz. Livni, 50, is Israel's lead negotiator in those talks.
Either candidate would make history by becoming prime minister. Livni would be the first female premier since Golda Meir. Mofaz, who was born in Iran, would be the first Israeli of Middle Eastern, or Sephardic, descent to lead the Jewish state.
Mofaz is seen as having a better chance at cobbling together a ruling coalition if he wins. But polls show Livni to be a far stronger candidate in a general election against Israel's other political star, Benjamin Netanyahu of the hard-line Likud Party.
Kadima extended voting hours by half an hour, apparently to give voters returning from work more time to cast ballots at crowded polling stations. Analysts predicted a high turnout would favor Livni, who has a wide advantage in opinion polls but who is seen not to have rallied party activists as efficiently as Mofaz.
The fact that only 74,000 party members, in a country of 7 million people, were eligible to vote added to the uncertainty of the outcome. Israeli media reported that two hours before the new closing time of 10:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. EDT), some 40 percent of the eligible Kadima voters had cast ballots. However, voting often picks up in the evening after working hours in Israel.
Mofaz, a former chief of staff and defense minister, insisted that opinion polls that showed him trailing Livni were inaccurate.
It remained unclear if either would be able to break the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, which, if required, would be held next week. Two other candidates, Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit and former Shin Bet security service director Avi Dichter, lagged far behind in the polls.
The winner of the primary will have 42 days to put together a ruling coalition. Failure to do so would mean a new general election in early 2009, a year and a half ahead of schedule. Olmert will remain as a caretaker leader until a new coalition is approved by parliament.
Foreign minister since 2006, Livni is a rare female power figure in a nation dominated by macho military men and a religious establishment with strict views on the role of women. A former lawyer and one-time agent in the Mossad spy agency, Livni favors diplomacy over confrontation, even though she said last week that she has "no problem pulling the trigger when necessary."
Joyce Amiel, a Kadima supporter in Tel Aviv, said she was voting for Livni "mainly because she is a woman, even though her positions are not clear. We think she would do the best job. We want her to win."
Casting her vote in Tel Aviv, the usually reserved Livni bubbled with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. She said she was pleased with the turnout at her polling station and urged people to vote.
"You can determine today what the character of Kadima will be," Livni said. "You can determine today if you really have had enough of old-time politics. Come and vote, bring your children, and show them how you are changing the country."
Mofaz takes a tougher line, demanding the Palestinians fulfill a series of conditions before a final deal can be reached. He also is more willing to order military action in times of crisis. He spooked global oil markets in June when he said Israel would have "no choice" but to attack Iran if sanctions fail to curb its nuclear program. He has since backed away from those comments.
"The state of Israel stands before major challenges in the coming years and needs a strong leader who has the courage to decide and the ability to act," he told Army Radio.
The primary is Kadima's first since it was founded by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005. Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in early 2006, and Olmert subsequently led the party to victory in elections.
Olmert, who is under police investigation over his finances, has said he will resign as soon as Kadima has a new leader. He has been carrying out intensive peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank, although both he and his Palestinian counterparts say they are unlikely to reach the U.S.-set target date of year's end for a final peace deal.
Israeli political science professor Gadi Wolfsfeld predicted Livni could use such a deal to win a national election.
"If she comes to a tentative agreement with the Palestinians, why not run on that platform, which would be very good for her," he said.
#3
An strange idea I saw elsewhere could best be called an "aircraft parking lot". Inexpensive, low tech, ships with strong stabilizers, whose upper deck is a flat landing strip.
Perhaps three to five such ships would move to an area of calm sea, between where the carrier or carriers are conducting combat operations, and the nearest land airport. There they hook up in line to form a landing strip perhaps double the size of a carrier.
This accomplishes a whole bunch of things.
To start with, if a carrier is hit by anti-ship missiles, such a platform would likely be within range of the carrier's aircraft, so would save the air wing in a forward deployed location.
Second, if a carrier air wing was getting heavy losses and anticipated needing additional aircraft, a wing could be in "the batter's box", on the platform. It and the carrier's own wing would be able to use either carrier or platform as needed.
For some aircraft, landing on a platform could be a one-way flight, so that section could detach and steam home. Otherwise it could be brought back to the carrier and craned aboard.
Such ships could also provide quicker rearmament and resupply, receiving materiel from shore, carried by aircraft that could not land on a carrier.
Importantly, they would not be combat vessels, but combat support vessels.
#5
It is a truism that the military (being by nature a conservative organization) is always fighting the last war.
Having said that, it may be that carriers are not obsolete yet. I still see a lot of uses for them, but not necessarily as the core of the naval force that they have been since WWII.
#6
.5MT: check recent articles ( various websites) about shortcomings for the DDG1000 class destroyers.
inability to handle surface-to-air mission is an interesting development.
aircraft parking lot is interesting idea but i would like to know where we are going to get the reserve aircraft to park there; the Tomcats are scrap, the Intruders are gutted ( of common parts to support the Prowlers), and anything else that was 'flyable' has no logistics trail left (F-4, A-7E, A-4, F-8) and nobody left that remembers how to work on them.
#8
The economy is not tanking. The financial markets are tanking. Wall Street has both overdone greed and stepped into a new era in which, like the recordeing industry and the MSM, many of its constituents are obsolete and superfluous. AIG was picked up by the Fed to prevent the economy from tanking. As yet the economy is not even in a recession. And if it does enter one, there is no reason to believe it will be out of line with the last two as long as the finance industry is stabilized.
#9
Modern missiles need a fire control solution. The fundamental problem in attacking a CVN is getting that, and living long enough to use it.
On paper, Carriers were obsolete 40 years ago. But carriers operate on WATER.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/17/2008 16:08 Comments ||
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#10
I agree carriers are not dead, they will just be used differently. I'm not sure we need supercarriers though. You could probably build and run more than one of the smaller kind for the same price. Especially if the new tasks are disaster assistance (tsunami for example) and unmanned aircraft launch and recovery.
#11
check recent articles ( various websites) about shortcomings for the DDG1000 class destroyers.inability to handle surface-to-air mission is an interesting development.
The Zumwalt is a much-politicised, flawed successor to the fire-support ship. As such, the much politicised DD-1000 was never intended to have surface to air capabilities outside of being an 'extended magazine' for Aegis equipped platforms (something that the Spruance class was being refiited for 16+ years ago).
#12
Comments from a non-navy type.
1. Aircraft need more than a place to take off and land. That's why CVN's are so complex.
2. Pappy's right.
3. We have no alternative to carriers when we don't have landing rights nearby the area of operations.
4. Show of force works. Especially if they believe you will use it.
5. Stuff wears out and should be replaced if needed.
#13
Anonymoose, even in the calmest of waters wouldn't you have a ripple effect between the platforms creating a pretty dangerous landing area? Sounds crazy to me but maybe I'm missing something.
#14
Meh, funding for the 3rd ZoomWalt is in the works to cover the cost overruns on 1st 2 hulls. Maybe it goes, maybe it don't. Ima read somewhere that the Zumz were old-fashioned technology demonstrators but couldn't be sold to Congress in that form. I dunno. Not certain if 500 million $ minesweepers (altho they are said to have the ability to run many tiny little uwvz) is the answer either. We'll see, hope I am wrong.
#15
I doubt McCain will build the Zooms. One maybe. But he knows the Navy is FUBAR and a good target for cutting. His problem is to find a Petraeus. Maybe Roughead is the guy. At least he blew the whistle on the Zoom.
#16
rjschwarz: that's why I mentioned extra strong stabilizers. When the ships connect, they need close to fly by wire stabilization, all stabilizers acting as a team.
The task is simplified somewhat by not needing to stabilize them as a group during forward momentum, since as a group, propulsion is just to assist stabilization. They break apart to move any great distance.
Other advantages is that such a platform can provide refueling for aircraft unable to get in-flight refueling. They can also provide the transfer of people and cargo between different aircraft.
Having a long than an aircraft carrier landing strip would permit non-CVN capable, and even non-Navy aircraft into the theater.
#17
The USA desires to begin and lead the exploration of deep space - the future CV will be a GLORIFIED HYBRID ARSENAL SHIP = FIRE SHIP [wid UV, GMD-BM, Marine Amphib/ABN + SPAWAR etc. "MOTHER SHIP" "SEA FORT" INTEGRATED MULTI-BATTLESPACE Capabilities].
MAG-LEV = SPAWAR DIRIGIBLES???
AFAIK the USN is NOT even certain how many of the new CVN-21's to build, includ AEGIS 21 Tech Escorts, nor wid what 21st Century Missions + Capabilities.
#3
There's an old Willie & Joe cartoon, with Joe and Willie in a foxhole and a tank nearby with Joe saying "I'd ruther dig. A movin' foxhole attracts th' eye."
Somchai Wongsawat expressed confidence Tuesday that his party can work out its internal problem, and insisted there are no plans to dissolve the House of Representatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Malaysia's opposition alliance claimed on Tuesday that it had enough support in parliament to oust the government, but Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rejected the declaration and accused the opposition of "political lies." "We have enough strength to form the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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The panic in world credit markets reached historic intensity on Wednesday, prompting a flight to safety of the kind not seen since the second world war.
Barometers of financial stress hit record peaks across the world. Yields on short-term US Treasuries hit their lowest level since the London Blitz. Lending between banks in effect halted and investors scrambled to pull their funding from any institution or sector whose future had been called into doubt.
The $85bn emergency Federal Reserve loan for the troubled insurance group AIG, announced on Tuesday night, failed to curb the surge in risk aversion. Instead, markets were hit by a fresh wave of anxiety.
Speculation mounted that the Federal Reserve, which refused to cut rates on Tuesday, could be forced into an embarrassing U-turn. Amid the financial chaos, traders were pricing in 32 basis points of rate cuts by the end of the month essentially betting that there was a 60 per cent chance the Fed would cut rates by half a percentage point in the coming days.
One cause for fear came when shares in a supposedly safe money market mutual fund fell below par value or "broke the buck" owing to losses on Lehman Brothers debt. This raised the risk that retail investors in other such funds could panic and pull out their money.
All thought of profit was abandoned as traders piled in to the safety of short-term treasuries, with the yield on three-month bills falling as low as 0.03 per cent rates that characterised the "lost decade" in Japan. The last time they were this low was January 1941.
Shares in the two largest independent US investment banks left standing Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs fell 24 per cent and 14 per cent respectively as the cost of insuring their debt soared, threatening their ability to finance themselves .
Repercussions were felt far beyond the US. There was turbulent trading in HBOS, a leading UK mortgage lender, which was forced at the prompting of the British government to enter into merger talks with fellow retail bank Lloyds TSB after drastic falls in its share price.
Lending between banks in Europe and the US in effect halted. The so-called Ted spread the difference between three-month Libor and Treasury bill rates, which measures fear over banks moved above 3 per cent, higher than the record close after the Black Monday crash of 1987.
The authorities fired back, with the Treasury announcing it would borrow money to give to the Fed to use for its emergency lending in essence removing any balance sheet constraint on the size of this assistance.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator, announced new curbs on short selling that traders called draconian. Short sellers, who profit from share price declines, were widely blamed for the trouble at AIG. But these efforts failed to avert heavy selling, particularly of US financial stocks.
Many analysts criticised the US authorities for adopting an arbitrary approach to rescues saving AIG but not Lehman that was impossible for investors to predict and therefore did nothing to boost confidence.
The S&P 500 fell 4.7 per cent, led by a 8.9 per cent slump in financials. Equity volatility was near its highest level since March. The dollar weakened slightly, while the Japanese yen rallied as risky currency funding trades were unwound.
Gold benefited from safe-haven buying, with prices at their biggest one-day precentage gain, up 11.2 per cent to a three-week high of $866.47 a troy ounce.
#2
This morning the Treasury sold $40 billion in 35 day notes, for an interest rate of 0.300%. This was not announced much ahead of time.
"Panic grips credit markets" is an exaggeration. Read up on the Panics of 1837, 1873, 1893. Those were Panics, meaning no credit available to anyone for anything, with cash shortages, otherwise viable businesses shutting down for lack of credit, and 30% unemployment. We're not anywhere close to that.
#3
LIBOR going to 6 yesterday was a big deal. What this means is that banks are not confident that they will be paid back by other banks when they lend them money for one single day. I was involved in this working for a net Fed Funds lender when Continental Illinois and First Pennsylvania collapsed in the mid '70's There was so much going on in Nam and Watergate that most people didn't notice. But there was a huge melt down then as well. Just not as many people were as wealthy and the wealth threatened was not their own home equity.
Any way, they call them panics because the fear is paralyzing. Just below combat. Hard to think of anything else close except those seconds before a life threatening experience like an automobile crash. It makes people do strange things.
Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down" economics of the Bush administration, which he tried to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.
But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street's most revered institutions.
#2
People always need a place to sleep, food, and water. This is a non-partisan issue. Investigate to see how companies maintained "No Docs" on their balance sheets for so long and so easily.
Then investigate to find the contributers / ee's, and link that with possible congressional bills that altered regulations..
Investigate to determine how to ensure this behemoth construct becomes a profit making enterprise again so we are not on the hook for this cash.
#3
Actually, the REAL culprit is the notion that real estate prices could only go up. A huge amount of economic expansion was due to the increase in home equity. I am not talking about mortgage loans to buy a house, I am talking about people who took out home equity loans and took out every cent in equity they could. People were encouraged to do it by banks, realtors, infomercials, practically everyone.
That works fine as long as home prices continue to rise and/or interest rates are falling. The moment interest rates go up, people who are leveraged to the hilt can suddenly find their equity loan payment is more than they can afford. They default and have to sell their house. That starts a chain of dominoes. More houses go up for sale, prices come down in response to oversupply. With prices coming down, others who can still make their payments find out that the bank wants them to reduce the exposure on the home equity loan and demands partial payment.
At the same time, people who had stupid reverse amortization, interest only loans discover that while their loan balance has been rising the value of their home is falling and interest rates are going up. They can't sell their home for what they owe on it.
Now all the mortgage derivatives start falling apart. That starts all the financial institutions falling apart and their own securities become worthless and everyone holding them and derivatives of THOSE lose money.
This isn't going to stop until real estate prices stabilize and that isn't going to happen for a LONG time because the baby boomers are going to be retiring. By 2011 or 2012 they will be retiring in DROVES and a lot of houses are going to hit the market.
Real estate is probably the worst investment you can make right now. If you are counting on your home equity for a retirement nest egg, you are screwed if you haven't already sold. It's too late. On the other hand, 2012 is going to be a great time to buy.
An $85 billion dollar U.S. lifeline for American International Group gave some respite to battered financial stocks, while the UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS Plc and Lloyds TSB contemplated a merger which would reshape British banking.
Shares in Britain's HBOS Plc were initially sharply lower for a sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, but recovered after a source familiar with the matter confirmed a report that it was in merger talks with Lloyds TSB.
Around the time the AIG deal with U.S. authorities was announced, British bank Barclays Plc gave markets another boost: agreeing to buy parts of Lehman for $1.75 billion.
Posted by: ed ||
09/17/2008 08:33 ||
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#1
If you think the US housing market was over priced and over leveraged then you should have been in London from 1997 to 2003 when I lived there. Remember everything there is dollar to pound. What you pay $25K for in the USA you paid GBP25 for the same thing in London (back then a 60% premium). Housing was ridiculous. Our little "cottage" in central London was GBP 450K in 1997 and over GBP1 million when we left in 2003. All these flats, terrace houses, maisonettes and cottages that have risen in price 200-300% or more in the last 4 years are going to come tumbling down along with their highly leveraged mortgages and will make yesterday look like a Sunday school picnic. That could be the other shoe to drop.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:14 Comments ||
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#2
The markets fell 450 points today.
If that is "CALM"... I don't want to see rough.
Brought to you by Dinosaur Media Deathwatch ®
The McClatchy Co. announced another round of job cuts Tuesday and said it was slicing its shareholder dividend in half. Sacramento-based McClatchy, parent company of The Fresno Bee and 29 other daily newspapers, said it was cutting its work force by another 10%, or 1,150 full-time positions, as part of an effort to cut expenses by $100 million a year.
The Fresno Bee will lose 40 workers in the McClatchy expense-cutting effort, publisher Ray Steele Jr. announced in a letter to employees Tuesday. Of those, 35 -- including 11 in the newsroom -- accepted buyouts. Five -- including one in the newsroom -- were laid off. The 9% staff cut, following the layoff of 44 workers in June, leaves The Fresno Bee with about 520 employees for the moment. The Fresno Bee also plans to cut about 10 more jobs next year by outsourcing some financial operations, Steele told employees.
McClatchy's announcement followed an earlier spell of layoffs in June that reduced staffing at all of its newspapers by an average of 10%.
The announcement reflects the company's inability to halt a steep slide in profits and revenue. The company said Tuesday that its August revenue fell 15.7% from a year earlier, to $142.8 million. Advertising sales were down 17.8%. Die, monster, die!
McClatchy officials said the August figures marked something of an improvement over July, when revenue fell 16.4%. "August advertising activity turned out to be stronger than recent months," Chief Financial Officer Pat Talamantes said in a press release. He added that online advertising was "a bright spot," with a 7.4% gain in sales.
With print revenue still dropping, the company said it had to keep cutting costs. Coupled with the June layoffs, a companywide wage freeze and other moves, McClatchy expects to save about $200 million a year in operating expenses, Treasurer Elaine Lintecum said. Cutting the dividend in half, to 9 cents a share, will save the company an additional $7.4 million or so each quarter. That translates into annual savings of $29.6 million.
The move wasn't a surprise; Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive, signaled in July that the company was going to re-evaluate its dividend policies. Still, McClatchy had never reduced its dividend in its 20 years as a public company.
Shareholders seemed to accept the news. John Miller of Ariel Investments, a Chicago money-management firm that owns 27% of McClatchy's "public" shares, said it makes sense to plow more money into dealing with the $2 billion in debt left from the 2006 takeover of Knight Ridder Inc.
McClatchy, like other newspaper publishers, has been struggling with a weak economy and the exodus of business to the Internet and other media. McClatchy's troubles are probably worse than most because of its heavy concentration of newspapers in hard-hit California and Florida, where revenues have fallen more than 20% this year.
McClatchy's profits have dropped in half this year and total revenue is down 15%. The company's stock price has dropped 85% in the past 12 months and closed Tuesday at $3.40, up 2 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. For all the good dirt on the nakedly pro-insurgent McClatchy gang and their disgraceful coverage of Iraq, including the detestable pissant Bobby Calvan, see McClatchy Watch or search Rantburg for "McClatchy," including this gratifying screed by yours truly.
#4
the San Diego UT is also cutting back bigtime preparing to be sold by cutting salaries and positions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#5
They bought out Knight-Ridder with a lot of debt financed with junk bonds. Now they have to pay the nut on those bonds in this tough financial environment. Wonder how long before they ask for a federal bailout?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008 11:21 Comments ||
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#6
How many writers do you really need just to re-do PR releases, anyway?
Eleven. One for changing the bulb. Nine others to rotate him and finally another one in front of the keyboard waiting until there is light in the room.
#7
Daytona News-Journal (believe it or not, a radical left-wing indy) is laying off 150 but not in the editorial or reporting side. No, they are going for the real fat - circulation, advertising, mechanics, drivers, etc. Circulation is way down as is advertising. Yet, they continue to bang the Obama pans and keep running the most anti-free market, anti-war, anti-anything republican or conservative editorials while the readers say no thanks and quit. Real fiddling while Rome burns mentality.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:18 Comments ||
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#8
They also ruined the Idaho Statesman in Boise. It used to be a great paper with fantastic reporting. Knight Ridder bought it and sold to McClatchy. Now it so bad that it is not even worth checking their website. Locally, they will have maybe one or two stories that are yesterday's news. As for everything else, it reminds me of an internet spider - a bunch of generic nothing that is designed to attract everyone but appeals to no one.
I bought it for awhile and I would really like to buy it again for the local advertisement or events. But it's just so void of content other than DNC talking points. I can't imagine they will survive.
They blame it on the internet, but I miss having the paper to look through. It's just that they aren't selling anything worth buying.
All of these papers Union Tribune, Fresno Bee and Idaho Statemen used to be independent and good. What a shame they destroyed them.
#9
The Union Tribune was never good, Betty. It's up for sale now. Wanna buy it? I bet you could run it better than David Copley, the publisher. They were never anything but cheerleaders for the local good old boys. Republicans, yes, but crooked as all get out and they have run San Diego right into the ground. You wanna talk about the mortgage crisis? San Diego is ground zero. Developers using illegal aliens for labor slapping up massive housing tracts where the houses sold for a half million to a million a pop. I could never figure out who could afford those places. Well, it turns out nobody could. When the ARMs adjusted up to a realistic interest rate the buyers walked away. So a lot of them are standing empty right now. Meanwhile they ask us to conserve water because they never had enough water for all the people who were moving here. But the UT was cheering them on the whole time while fat, lazy Copely was out playing on his yacht.
#10
"The Fresno Bee also plans to cut about 10 more jobs next year by outsourcing some financial operations,..."
if less money comes in, then i would expect the outsourced financial service to also be downsized.
Crude oil prices plunged again today, falling below $91 a barrel at one point this morning as traders and investors worried about lower oil demand from a weakened economy and the prospect that troubled financial firms would curtail oil trading or liquidate positions. The dip in prices follows a 5.4 percent drop yesterday that brought the cost of oil below $100 a barrel for first time since Feb. 15.
Early this morning, oil prices fell to $90.83 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, although they crept back up as the morning advanced. It settled today at $91.15 a barrel. Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $5.47, to $95.71 a barrel yesterday, continuing a two-month retreat. The prices of other commodities also fell but much more modestly.
The price drop is tied to the tumult on Wall Street. "The fear is that the sharp deterioration of the banking crisis in the U.S. will spread to the real economy and demand for oil," Carsten Fritsch, a Commerzbank AG analyst in Frankfurt, told Bloomberg News.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The bottom of the bear approaches! The more bad news the better!
And we're not finished hearing about Legman, unfortunately. They have some tax troubles and will have a starring roll in a Senate investigation.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 0:44 Comments ||
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#2
I wonder how many of these investment firms are having troubles because of the drop in commodities, especially oil?
I've wondered for a while but this is the first mention I have seen. Someone had to lose when they dropped and perhaps now we know who.
#3
I suspect most of these firms bought commodities while they where still very low and kept purchasing on the way up in some cases. However, they've been selling on the way down, so I suspect even at these prices they're still in the black.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 1:11 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder how many of these investment firms are having troubles because of the drop in commodities, especially oil?
I'm wondering how much of the drop in oil prices is due to the fact that these guys have financial problems.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 9:46 Comments ||
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#5
There were people running around writing articles about why we shouldn't blame the traders and hedge funds for the price of oil a few months ago.
Liars, every one of them. The price is sinking fast in the same world of hurricanes and political turmoil. It was them all along, and I think they are finally getting what they have coming to them.
Also lower demand because tankers could not get to/refineries could not take crude on the Gulf Coast. Tankers could sometimes divert loads elsewhere, but would have to undercut previous supplies to make the sales. But it beats driving around in circles burning money.
#7
The problem with the hedge funds is that they weren't hedging. Hedge Fund became a code word for very risky (but potentially profitable) transactions.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/17/2008 11:44 Comments ||
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#8
I can't wait for Congress to investigate what they created and treated with no oversight. Bring it on Barney and Chris - you weasels. What we need is a special prosecutor to look into Frank and Dodd and their relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide and the thing called Community Development Act.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:22 Comments ||
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Amid fears of a full blown crisis in the global financial system, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday pumped $50 billion into the financial system to help ease credit stresses, a day after upheaval in the American financial system sent shock waves through the stock market, producing the worst day on Wall Street in seven years.
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, meanwhile, warned the global financial crisis is not over and more banks could close, possibly leading to the disappearance of the independent investment houses. "The fact that a certain number of banks in the United States are restructuring shouldn't lead to panic," he told AFP in the wake of Monday's collapse of major U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. "But these events add to the uncertainty, and financial tensions cannot be excluded in the short term," with banks other than Lehman Brothers also in a bad position, he said.
Predicting "a narrower global financial sector", the International Monetary Fund managing director said certain "players will disappear", particularly in the United States, with the possible gradual disappearance of independent investment banks like Lehman or Merrill Lynch.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
See CHINESE MIL FORUM/REDDIT > MARKET ORACLE.UK -THE END OF WESTERN CAPITALIST CIVILIZATION [ + US Power as USA is now bankrupt]???
#3
I don't have a word strong enough for the people who knowingly led the markets into this position in the first place. They knew it was coming, and didn't care as long as they could rake in money before the bubble burst.
#7
The Russian excursion into Georgia certainly has paid off well for them if their markets are any indication. I'm sure their market dive is the fault of "The West".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
On the heels of blasting John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Lindsay Lohan reportedly got a bit of a jolt from an unexpected quarter: the Obama-Biden campaign. Apparently, LiLo was interested in becoming very involved in the Democratic ticket's bid for the White House -- even offering to host a series of events appealing to younger voters. 
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) is an 18th-term member of Congress, representing Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. Rep. Murtha chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Murtha's ethics violations stem from abuse of his position on the subcommittee to benefit the lobbying firm of a former long-term staffer and from threatening to block earmarks of other members for political purposes. Rep. Murtha was included as a member to watch in CREW's 2006 and 2007 reports on congressional corruption.
JERUSALEM (AP) - TV exit polls say Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won a clear victory in the party primary election to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
An $85 billion dollar U.S. lifeline for American International Group gave some respite to battered financial stocks, while the UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS Plc and Lloyds TSB contemplated a merger which would reshape British banking.
Crude oil prices plunged again today, falling below $91 a barrel at one point this morning as traders and investors worried about lower oil demand from a weakened economy and the prospect that troubled financial firms would curtail oil trading or liquidate positions. The dip in prices follows a 5.4 percent drop yesterday that brought the cost of oil below $100 a barrel for first time since Feb. 15.
