Inflation is at a 26-year high , the fed funds rate is at 2%, and the economy is hitting a serious downturn. Can you say stagflation
?
Congress overrode Bush's veto of HR 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act. The vote was 383-41-11
in the House and 70-26-4
in the Senate.
__________________________
I never broke the law; I am the law! -- George W. Bush Judge Dredd
I'm listening to...
'naked shorts'
A number of things are worth looking at right now. Chairman Cox of the SEC has announced that regulators plan to make it harder to short troubled financial's such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and Wachovia Bank. Mr. Cox told legislators that the SEC would issue an emergency order to stop “naked shorting” in important financial entities.
said chairman Cox yesterday, forgetting to mention that he has been overlooking regulations already in place, (the uptick rule), not policing transactions and letting 'free markets' have their way.
Americans May Be Losing Faith in the Free Markets
*gasp* ?
Well, well, well, they found the manure, but somebody has kidnapped the pony.
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
Faith, indeed
The term "faith" is actually used correctly here. Faith is an inherently religious term and it certainly can be applied to the beliefs of some who see The Free Market™ as a sort of infallible deity.
I've often read accounts of how "beautiful" The Free Market is, how amazing the Invisible Hand™ is, etc. If I didn't know any better (and I don't), I'd swear I was reading an account of the resurrection of Lazarus or some other religious event. Indeed, I tend to think that many of the free market dogmatists are essentially followers of a free market religion.
In their view The Free Market can do no wrong because ... well it's The Free Market and free markets can do no wrong. Any attempts to constrain The Market in order to achieve different policy objectives are treated as if one is trying to reinterpret holy scripture. In fact, the policy objectives themselves are the "wrong" objectives by definition because if they were "correct" in the first place then the market, in Its infinite wisdom, would have meted them out as It saw fit. Puny mortal human! How dare thee question The Market? Look upon what It has provided for you! Such insolence! Thou must be dispatched to Cuba forthwith!
At the base, free markets are a good policy. They are certainly better than any known alternative. From there, we not only have the right, but ought to restrict markets in ways that we feel are wrong or create sub-optimal social and economic consequences. We should always be aware of any side-effects and unintended consequences from restricting these markets, but we can and must restrict them at times.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
lol
From MSNBC I read this "breaking news":
Hahahahaha they ordered US!!! Hahahahahaha
__________________________"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
some history
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25703119/
Funny stuff. WC is wagging it's impotent stick at us. Whatever shall we do in the face of such an ultimatum!
__________________________"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
Federalism reasserted
I don't agree with the decision Texas made, but Texas is allowed to make their own rules without oversight from the Feds or the UN.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
The state of texas
shouldn't be allowed top make a burrito without oversight.
__________________________I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Burritos are tasty.
Unless there is some overriding Treaty with Mexico that no one seems to be aware of, it seems the Federal government has its hands tied on this issue.
__________________________In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
Indeed, sir
Double-beef burritos at Sandusky are extra expensive because of the tourist season. I can't complain, though. Getting full on $2.18 is hard to beat.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
don't mess with Texas! n/t
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
Not quite that simple
The initial case concerned a treaty to which the US is a party (approved by Congress), IIRC, and the argument was that Texas didn't have to abide by the conditions of the treaty.
Supposing that legally this is accurate, one can nevertheless see this undermines US diplomatic efforts. I would go so far as to say it's a loophole that ought to be fixed.
Caveat: this is all based on my memory of long-ago discussions and might well contain inaccuracies.
__________________________Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
Still works for me
If the matter is in state court, I'd still have to side with Texas on this one. I'm for strict federalism in all cases. The obligations and powers of the feds and the states should be clearly defined and completely orthogonal (as much as is reasonably possible).
I did read a bit more on the case and I essentially agree with the dissenting opinion that treaties are "self-executing" and don't require congressional implementation to make them effective, but I think this treaty isn't binding on Texas due to states' rights guarantees in the Constitution.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
But if the feds make a treaty that says ok, we'll provide
consulate access to foreign nationals if they are charged with a crime, and then Texas says whatever, we don't have to, I think that's as much Texas flouting international law as it is "strict federalism."
The case
seemed to turn on whether the treaty was "self executing" or whether Congress had to pass additional legislation specifically implementing the provisions.
Seems like common sense to me that when it comes to federalism the states should not be overriding international treaties. I'm not saying the ruling is wrong, although I believe it could have gone either way, but I do think this is something that Congress should clean up to avoid similar problems in the future.
__________________________Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
Time Out!
I'll have to think about this more carefully. I had a reply written but really backed myself into a corner. :-)
I didn't like what I was writing.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
Cheating
I didn't like what I was writing.
That doesn't stop the rest of us from posting our poorly considered opinions =)
__________________________Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
It's a tough issue.
I think the reason for the "self-executing" distinction is the prevent the federal government for making treaties that compel the states to do things that the federal government has no right to compel them to do. I guess that's painfully obvious, but I'm imagining a situation where the Feds want to make a deal that's clearly not within their jurisdiction. Could lead to some nutty complications.
__________________________Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce
Not surprisingly
Business Week picks the wrong side in Google vs. Viacom. Their ironically titled editorial is not only wrongheaded but startlingly naive.
__________________________I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Wow, no kidding
But, here’s the reality. Viacom isn’t interested in suing YouTube users. Honestly, Viacom may not even be all that interested in suing Google.
How can anyone type that with a straight face?
Also, I don't see any reason Viacom couldn't assess the popularity of copyrighted works on youtube by noting statistics such as views, favorites, or comments for specific clips. That doesn't appear to be their interest or intent at all.
Odd that they keep using Comedy Central as an example when those shows are available for viewing at Comedy Central anytime. I'm not sure the writer really has a deep understanding of the subject matter here.
__________________________Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
Not to mention that a lot
Not to mention that a lot of the youtube content seems to be shows that aren't likely to hit DVD and the content seems to be free advertising for people to get interest peeked of long lost favorite shows. And for the newer content, imho it just peeks peoples interest into watching those shows.
__________________________In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
Parse error af "peeks"
I believe you meant "piques". They don't teach that in Mrs. Zdroik's English class.
Sincerely,
Grammar/Spelling Nazi
BTW, if you have the time and/or gas money, feel free to stop up this Saturday or Sunday. Give reasonable notice if you're coming.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
Certainly possible
That's how it works for me with music -- if I hear a song I like, I'm more inclined to go buy the CD. I don't look to download it from some filesharing system. If on the other hand I can't get access to the song and it's not being played on the radio, I'm not going to just spend $15 on a random CD that I have no idea if I'll like or not.
Sharing copyrighted material probably hurts large popular bands/shows and helps smaller niche bands/shows. Smart companies would figure out how to use that to maximize their profit, instead of trying to sue their customer base.
__________________________Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
Who knew that SwordsCrossed was such a bad site
that the network managers here at work took it upon themselves to block my getting through to it.
I guess they didn't figure out that I know how to use google & proxy servers.
hehe sorry man
I am glad you got through!
__________________________"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
btw, yesterday I got a letter from RNC
saying that I shouldn't let my membership or whatever expire and that I should please donate to renew my membership and defeat democrats...
I've never donated to RNC nor was I ever a member of RNC... Nice fundraising... They must be sending this out to all registered republicans though that would be a bit much.
__________________________"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
I hear they tend to do that
In 2004, my grandfather got a fundraising appeal from President Bush's campaign. This was after my grandpa changed his party registration to Democrat in the primary election that year.
He still gets stuff from the RNC from time to time even though he hasn't been a registered Republican for over 4 years.
When I registered as a Democrat in 2002, I got only a few GOTV postcards and DNC credit card offers every few months. When I re-registered as an independent it stopped coming.
In Ohio, your party registration is public information. Obviously the parties get lists of the information and market accordingly.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
Rush on Colbert tonight
Not the man...the band!
__________________________don't ask me, I'm just improvising
Political Compass Score: Econ L/R -0.12 Social Lib/Auth -1.33
Cool
I will have to watch.
It will be my first time.
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
"Neil, do you have a drum dependency problem?"
haha.... good stuff.
__________________________“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” --- Albert Einstein
Audacity of hope may be wearing thin
This may be a sign of things to come or the product of political reporters inventing stories to fill the slow summer...
Politico
__________________________I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Next thing you know the wizards
of spin will be claiming that Obama is like Bush!
Oh wait "'they'" already are.
Machiavelli lives!
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
IN other interesting developments
McCain's middle name is Victory and he invented the counter- insurgency doctrine. Who Knew!
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
The Angry Left
Proves It's Angry
The comments are ragin'.
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.