Economics USA: Autos: GM again slated for bankruptcy as Obama preferential treatment for UAW takes effect

Circumstances force President Obama to choose between bondholders and UAW retirees' health fund in the Chrysler automaker's current meltdown. The President's preferential option for elite proletarian health funds (the blue-collar aristocracy) over other claimants upon Chrysler, conditions our expectations regarding his moves on General Motors. Obama's siding with the UAW's preferential treatment in the Chrysler case, should he remain consistent in his treatment of one company and the other, bodes ill for the other, General Motors--which now may be closer to bankruptcy.

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. may be more likely to end up in bankruptcy based on the Obama administration’s willingness to place Chrysler LLC into court protection to safeguard union health-care benefits.

With GM and its biggest bondholders at odds over resolving $27 billion in unsecured claims by a June 1 deadline, the Chrysler model indicates that President Barack Obama may resort to bankruptcy to end any impasse over that debt, said Martin Fridson, chief executive officer of New York-based credit investment firm Fridson Investment Advisors.

Ford is doing fine. Why should Chrysler not go into bankruptcy; it, like GM, has played the fool and succumbed to many years of overcompensation of its unionized workers. The union has been irresponsible. The company did not resist certain of the union's exorbitant demands; the company also played the fool in other respects, including its anti-environmental car production generally. In the end, Chrysler came up short as a business. Let it die as businesses do, perhaps.

Chrysler filed for protection April 30 after the U.S. was unable to persuade secured lenders to swap $6.9 billion in claims for $2.25 billion in cash. A union retiree health-care trust was offered a 55 percent stake in Chrysler.

“This confirms the fear, which right along has been that the Obama administration is more sensitive or beholden to the unions than the bondholders,” Fridson said. “It makes it clear that GM bondholders aren’t likely to be able to work out anything outside of bankruptcy.”

I can't weep for the bondholders either, whether Chrysler or GM. Those bondholders also made grievously bad business decisions, holding bonds in companies they knew were in deep dodo for some time.

Should not the vaunted rules of the market, apply to all concerned?--GM, Chrysler, UAW, and bondholders. The moral itch in this situation is simply that the UAW itself nor its pension and health-care funds as such are not identical to the retirees who will, in some cases, most desperately need their expected insurances for old-age health needs.

In contrast, have the elites of the funds, the UAW, GM, Chrysler, and the bondholders got inadequate health insurance? Of course, they don't. Well, let them eat cake!

--EconoMix

Economics: Mainland China & Taiwan: Deeper cooperation planned

China View, an English-language digital publication of the official party-line lite, reports an equally official news agency, Xinhua (Ap26,2k9) news release regarding a top-level meeting of continental representatives in Nanjing together with a large set of visiting Taiwan island representatives, regarding investment in both directions, and trade.

·The cross-straits ties have ushered into a "new era of peaceful development," said mainland top negotiator.

·The two sides would also try to reach consensus on mainland investment in Taiwan.

·It would set a foundation for market entering threshold of the financial sector, said Taiwan top negotiator Chiang.

The War that never arrived, one m+t say of the shifts in attitudes and (lack of) contacts that characteried continental and Taiwan island, the one or two Chinas, now that Hong Kong, Macao, Tibet and Uigurland have all been absorbed. Only North Korea slipped thru the net that continental Communist-dominated China has set here there and all roundabout.

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So, egomaniacally, I put my own visage on the first "cover page" of refWrite in its 5th year, is it?, after five years of going without any cover page whatsoever. Altho I did call refWrite frontpage my flagship for my particular and, yes, idiosyncratic experiment toward a reformational journalism in the digital age of electronic communications, of telecommunications, of a reformational telcom, refTelcom with its own inner copyr+t.

Labour USA: Autos: Workers reps make concessions in deal with Chrysler-Fiat, bankruptcy deadline is Wed Ap29,2k9

Tom Krisher reports for Associated Press, "UAW [United Auto Workers labour union], Chrysler, and Fiat reach concession deal" (Ap26,2k9).

Chrysler has been living on $4 billion in U.S. government loans and is expected to get another $500 million. Without government help, it would have gone out of business around the first of the year.

After rejecting the original plan, the government had said the UAW and Canadian Auto Workers unions must make further concessions, including the UAW taking equity in the company for at least half of a $10.6 billion payment into a union-run trust that will take over retiree health care costs starting next year.

The CAW ratified a concessionary deal on Sunday which CAW President Ken Lewenza said makes labor costs competitive with non-unionized Toyota in Canada.

Working against a deadline that would fall-due on Wednesday, Ap29, nowhere in this rescue-programme and restructuring of the enterprise and workers' salaries (down!) is there any sl+test opening for a national reconsideration of the theory and presuppositions that dictate single-union bargaining units, instead of a multi-union representation according to the workforce's diverse and more principial choices.

-- Economix

Americas Summit: Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chavez affably gives Obama a book by Eduardo Galleano

Eduardo Galleano's Open Veins of Latin America (translated from the Spanish) is a historical interpretation of the presumed underdevelopment and oppression of Latin America by the gringos and gringas to the North, and those in the Latinos' very midst--particularly, in recent eras, the United States of America.

You know, those "blue-eyes," whom Prez Lula of Brazil likes to say, are a stampede of in-flying accountants, descending on his country's national financial policies to examine and poke holes (in Lula's accounting books, perhaps), mostly as enforcers for the International Monetary Fund (USA) and the World Bank (Europe).

What does the president to president gift-giving and gift-receiving between Hugo Chavez and Barack Obama mean?

One answer is the review of Galleano's book by Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Re-gift, Please! (Ap?2k6)

-- Politicarp

South Africa: Elections: Zuma ANC trounces ex-ANC Mbekists

Africa National Congress, South Africa's only ruling party and government since the collapse of apartheid, has just won new elections (the 4th round since the change-over fron minority rule under the hegemonic white racist regime). But in the process the party split with the with the old ANC leadership under Thabo Mbeki (the AIDS denier) and came under the spell of a dubious character of great charisma, Jakob Zuma. The Zuma ANC won the elections by 12 million--despite a corrupton trial!

South Africans voted in general and provincial elections on April 22nd, the fourth chance they have all had to do so since the birth of democracy in 1994. After months of increasingly feverish punditry in the domestic media about the country’s political trajectory, the people finally got their chance to speak at the ballot box. So what did they say?

The first message was that the poll mattered to them. The total number of ballots cast had not been officially released at the time of writing, but the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) reckons 77% of 23 million registered voters voted on Wednesday. That’s 17.71 million people, 13.5% higher then the 15.34 million voters recorded in 2004.

The national population growth rate, ravaged as it is by deaths from HIV/Aids, is estimated at just 0.28% a year, so the increase cannot be explained by that alone.
The reason for the high turnout was that people cared deeply about the outcome.

ANC supporters turned out in their masses to re-elect the party, with an estimated 12 million people voting for the party this time round, two million more then last time. One reason for this substantial growth is the ANC’s determination to trounce a new party contesting elections for the first time, the Congress of the People (Cope). Cope was formed last November by prominent members of an ANC faction that had supported former president Thabo Mbeki, but which was routed by a rival faction supporting Jacob Zuma at an ANC General Congress in Polokwane in December 2007. Mbeki lost the ANC’s presidency at Polokwane, and all his supporters were voted off the National Executive Committee (NEC). Although he was beaten in the presidential contest, Mbeki still took 40% of the vote. If all that support could be translated into electoral support for Cope, the ANC had a real crisis on its hands.

Read the whole article in openDemocracy by clicking this blog-entry's title; "South Africans have voted. What did they say? by GHregory Mthembu-Salter (Ap24,2k9).

-- Politicarp

Britain: Economy: Shrinkage rate of superindex for Gross Domestic Product fastest in 30 years

Julia Kollewe, writing in the Guardian (Ap24,2k9) claims that "British economy shrinks at fastest rate for 30 years." This news must be troublesome for most Brits, terrifying to some.

On the ideology of Growth in economics, Reformational economist, Dr Bob Goudzwaard, has long ago called for a stable sustainable economy--no shrinkage, no growth. I'm wondering if he's modified that line in recent years, but unmodified that would imply no-growth in developing countries, which is not part of BG's programme. He's all for growth where millions are starving, and critiqued the "overdeveloped West." So, quite the opposite of supreme economic goal of growth,he has always called for Development in non-Western society. At present, however, he surely has considered the blazing-rate development of China and India, and surely has noted the blazing-rate of industrial pollution presently contaiminating with tremendous excess those hitherto "virgin" economies.

-- EconoMix

Military torture USA: Chronology: Reporter constructs time-line of USA military torture since 9/11 2k1

Presenting a "Web Exclusive" by Annie Lowrey, Foreign Policy chronicles a time-line that lists by consecutive date the events relating to military torture of captured terrorists-jihadists in the USA War against Terrorism. Click this blog entry's title to arrive at 3-page piece.

-- Politicarp

USA: Economics: Big Bank's finances manipulated by Paulson's threatening "leverage" which intimated top banker

MarketWatch reports/comments from New York (Last update: 2:45 p.m. EDT April 23, 2009)

Bernanke and Paulson look foolish if Lewis is right
Commentary: Bank of America CEO describes power in a panic

If Ken Lewis is telling the truth -- and he'd be foolish to lie to New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo -- then Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were more than concerned about the financial crisis. They were panicking.

Why else would the two most important administration officials presiding over the financial crisis play hardball backroom politics with Lewis, the chief executive of Bank of America Corp, who had taken significant risk by acquiring Merrill Lynch & Co. last September?

Lewis testified that Paulson used threatening language to push through the deal, according to a letter released by Cuomo's office Thursday.

Torture? Mental torture of Lewis by Paulson, perhaps. Perhaps.

This is a useful comment-article that should by read by many interested in the recent financial misdeeds and ensuingly-increasing uncertainty as to financial stability of banks sui generis, Bank of America included.

Further Research:

Forbes.com "For Freddie and Fannie Trouble at the Top" (Apr24,2k9), by Maurna Desmond
American Southern becomes year's 26th failure, by Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch (Ap24,2k9)
Some banks rise refWrite (Ap11,2k9)

--EconoMix

Racism: Geneva: Obama says UN conference's 'anti-Israel slant is hypocritical'

On the eve of the controversial Durban II UN conference on racism, US President Barack Obama lashed out at the language of its draft declaration, saying it showed "antagonism toward Israel in ways that were often times completely hypocritical and counterproductive."

UN anti-racism conference set to begin amid much controversy

The weeklong meeting in Geneva is widely expected to repeat the inflammatory, anti-Israel rhetoric that marred the first UN racism conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.

Explaining the US decision to boycott "with regret," Obama said in Trinidad on Sunday: "Hopefully, some concrete steps come out of the conference that we can partner with other countries on how to actually reduce discrimination around the globe, but this wasn't an opportunity to do it."

This is the same strategy used by former Prez Bush, and outlined by Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay in their book, America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (2003) in which the UN is not conceived as normative whatever it decides on whatever issue, but rather in which the US may partner with "alliances of the willing" on specific world-problems, in this case racism.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman echoed Obama's remarks, calling it "a hypocrisy summit."

Britain's govt is joining keynoter Ahmadi-Nejad (yes, Iranian hatemonger and nuclear adventurist) in attendance at the event--while Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany and others have announced they will not be in attendance. Pope Benedict, however, thinks the conference is "necessary."

Of course, the UN bureaucracy is wringing its hands about the US position, but the UN is itself responsible for sponsoring a gathering on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day that previously was remarkable for its indiscipline and anti-humanity at Durban I in South Africa (2001) and now again apparently at Durban II in Geneva. The meeting is largely an Arab-states hate-fiesta against Jews and Israel, strategically designed to round-up as much of Africa and Asia as it can for arch-manipulative purposes. Iran (with only a minority of Arabs) competes with the Arab-majority states generally to lead the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic cabal.

-- Politicarp

Homeland Security: USA: FBI will deploy to create "rightwing extremists" on model of Timothy McVeigh

In a lie-entitled article, "Napolitano defends report on right-wing extremist groups" (Apr15,2k9, CNN Politics.com, hypotheticals are built up to an absurd conclusion. It looks like a fandango to boost FBI funding for an Obama witchhunt of the rightwing.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security will never monitor ideology or political beliefs, the head of the agency said Wednesday, responding to criticism of a recent report on right-wing extremist groups.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the U.S. will never monitor ideology or political beliefs.

It already does; and it's inevitable with a vengeance, if they target what rallies Iraq and Afghanistan combat vets may possibly attend.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the U.S. will never monitor ideology or political beliefs.

Propagandistic repetitiveness.

"Let me be very clear: We monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a written statement.

"Risks"? Note: not violent extremism, but theoretical risks she and her squads imagine but for which she has admittedly got no evidence. She means the FBI will concentrate on new targets, that don't presently exist to her or apparently anyone's knowledge, on the base of risk-management criteria that are of the broadest social kind regarding recent history. It's a theory about American combat soldiers, largely, but she tries to hide that ermbarassing truth in her next sentence.

"We don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence."

"One group"? What group is that she cites but doesn't name? Why it's Islamacist terrorists, the jihadists, the pirates. But, of course, both her report and her defense of it does single out Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans. A few of whom may just possibly join groups she designates as "extremist"--not jihadists, not terrorists, just some group/s that are rightwing. This is a strategy to control thawt and political expression in America instead of getting rid of the terrorists already in existence in sleeper cells. Instead, Janet Napolitano resorts to the wildest hypotheticals to conjure up propaganda points.

The report, "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," said right-wing extremist groups may be using the recession and the election of the nation's first African-American president to recruit members.

"MAY BE"?--a guess, a hypothetical which when challenged becomes a theory but not a fact, a choice of words to cover her lack of evidence. A dishonest manoeuvre tricked up and trucked out just before the Tea Parties, where ... perhaps ... maybe some vets register their discontent regarding the dishonest unread tax laws that Congress passed and Obama signed.

The report, which was prepared in coordination with the FBI, was published last week. It was distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement officials. Mainstream media picked up the story after it was reported by conservative bloggers. ... »

Though the nine-page report said it had "no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence," it said real-estate foreclosures, unemployment and tight credit could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past."

The twitter-brained head of Insecurity is definitely implying armed confrontation. Even that however was not the case with McVeigh (in the prosecution of whom Napolitano was involved), not so much that, rather truer to armed confrontation between the FBI and the Branch Davidian sect's compound where a slawter was conducted by the FBI, "the 1993 siege on their property near Waco, Texas, by the ATF and the FBI, which resulted in the deaths of 82 of the followers of David Koresh" (Wikipedia.)
"Mainstream media tended to discount the critical views presented in early documentary films, because they were seen as coming from the political fringes of the right and left. This changed in 1997, when professional film makers Dan Gifford and Amy Sommer produced their Emmy Award winning documentary, Waco: The Rules of Engagement.[46] This film presents a history of the Branch Davidian movement and, most importantly, a critical examination of the conduct of law enforcement, both leading up to the raid and through the aftermath of the fire. The film features footage of the Congressional hearings on Waco, and juxtaposition of official government spokespeople with footage and evidence often directly contradicting the government spokespeople. The documentary also shows infra-red footage demonstrating that the FBI likely used incendiary devices to start the fire which consumed the building and that the FBI did indeed fire on, and kill, Branch Davidians attempting to flee the fire.

Waco: The Rules of Engagement was nominated for a 1997 Academy Award for best documentary and was followed by another film: Waco: A New Revelation." (Wikipedia.)

"The destruction of the Waco compound enraged McVeigh and convinced him that it was time to take action. The government's use of CS gas on women and children angered McVeigh; he had been exposed to the gas as part of his military training and thus was familiar with its effects. The disappearance of certain evidence, such as the bullet-ridden steel-reinforced front door to the complex, led him to suspect a cover-up. He believed that even if David Koresh had committed crimes, his followers did not deserve to be killed." (Wikipedia.)
(blockquote)The report compared the current climate with that of the 1990s, saying a recession, criticism over outsourcing of jobs and a perceived threat to U.S. power at that time fueled a resurgence of right-wing extremism.

However, it said, "Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years."

It warned that the groups may use proposed restrictions on firearms and the debate on immigration as recruiting tools, and said the groups may try to reach out to veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today," the report said. It noted that Timothy McVeigh, the bomber of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, was a military veteran.

Radio talk show host Rush LimbaughI don't like him except for his recent support for the Humane Society, and his correctness as follows:

decried the report on Tuesday, saying, "There is not one instance they can cite as evidence where any of these right-wing groups have done anything," according to a transcript of his remarks on his Web site.

"You have a report from Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama, Department of Homeland Security portraying standard, ordinary, everyday conservatives as posing a bigger threat to this country than al Qaeda terrorists or genuine enemies of this country like Kim Jong Il," he said, referring to the leader of North Korea.

Michael Savage, another conservative commentator, also criticized the report.

"What does Big Sis say these right-wingers are concerned about?" he wrote on his Web site, referring to Napolitano.

"Illegal aliens, the increasing power of the federal government, gun grabs, abortion and the loss of U.S. national sovereignty. In other words, anyone who is worried about preserving our borders, language and culture is on Big Sis' watch list."

In her Wednesday statement, Napolitano said the agency is on "the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not -- nor will we ever -- monitor ideology or political beliefs."

She said she was briefed on the general topic, which "struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution."

Napolitano said she intends to meet with American Legion National Commander David K. Rehbein, who sent her a letter Monday stating his concern about the report.

"Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation's uniform during wartime," he wrote. "To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical 'disgruntled military veteran' is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam."

He added, "I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are."

Napolitano said in her statement that she will tell Rehbein that the Department of Homeland Security honors veterans and employs thousands, including Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute.

So what? She can't discriminate in hiring because it's unlawful. Nor can she legally curtail the political expression of those employees who go to an Anti-Tax rally or want Obama's misguided tax laws repealed.The Obama administration in January issued a warning about left-wing extremists. Both reports were initiated during the administration of President George W. Bush.But how is "extremist" being defined? Why are there separate reports? Why is the timing so different, and why does the anti-vet press flood come out just before Tax Day and the Tea Parties? Why is Bush being referenced when all his other actions have been defamed and/or reversed. The FBI-like coverup by Nappy demonstrates that she is another Obama misguided appointment.

Calendar: April 15: What's in store tomorrow on Tax-Day? Are you going to a Tea Pary? Beware the FBI may be monitoring ...

Dunstan Prial, writing in FOXBusiness, "What's in Store at Tax-Day Tea Parties" (Apr14,2k9). I've culled that interesting article as my first quote for your meditation in conjunction with another. The second is a report from Obama's Homeland Security that they've just begun their examination of the rightwing to determine who may be categorized as "extremist," presumably in order to protect Americans from a right-wing coup.

Here's the first:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

That’s the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and if you haven’t reviewed your copy of the document recently you’re probably not alone.

Tax Day Tea Party organizer Joan Stanley says no one in Washington, D.C., seems to have reviewed theirs recently either.

Stanley, 62, is an organizer of Bozeman, Mont.’s Tea Party, one of hundreds of such events scheduled to be held across the U.S. on Wednesday to protest government bailouts, budgets and deficits, in roughly that order.

“We’re coming together in unison to fight for what America has always stood for -- that’s freedom and liberty. We love our country and we want to take it back from the self-serving politicians who run Washington,” said Stanley.

Essentially a grassroots effort run by local organizers, the movement is tied together on the national level through a Web site, taxdayteaparty.com and by way of a handful of mostly conservative bloggers angry at the Obama Administration’s strategy of spending the country out of its current economic doldrums.

The first events were held nationwide on Feb. 27 and some 30,000 people participated in about 40 cities, according to the movement’s Web site. Wednesday was picked for the next round of protests because April 15 is ‘Tax Day,’ or the day tax returns are due.

The Tea Party Web site conveys the mood of its participants with quotes such as, “I do not believe that spending what we do not have will pull us out of a black hole economy,” and, “We citizens will be standing outside, protesting government overreach and proclaiming our rights.”

Please click on the blog-entrty title above and read the whole FxBiz article.

The second report bears the screen-name "national," date Apr14,2k9, entitled "Homeland Security Warns of the Rise in Right-Wing Extremism," on National Terror Alert.

An intelligence assessment released to law enforcement last week claims news of recession, the election of an African American president, rumors of new gun restrictions and the inability of veterans to reintegrate [-- factors which together] create fertile ground for radicalizing and recruiting right-wing extremists.

The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement agencies that recent news is helping “right-wing extremist groups” recruit new members and could lead to violence, and warns about the possible recruitment and radicalization of returning veterans.

So, the scenario comes to mind: undercover FBI agents as individual particpants-observers as well as in small groups with banners and slogans; they function at tomorrow's tea parties as agent provacateurs, trying to attract war veterans, trying to recruit them as counter espionage agents who will eventually be sent into the right-wing extremist groups--if, when, and as they arise.

South Pacific: Fiji: Court says govt illegit, govt suspends constitution & reinstates military chief, press freedom ended

Update:

Fiji coup regime ruled unlawful

Fiji coup leader restored as PM : Fiji's leader has restored his military chief to the ppost of interim prime minister a day after suspending the constitution

Fiji's military have been given permission to shoot civilians without fear of being prosecuted

Fiji Coup without military intervention

Statement by Citizens to Protect Journalists,
defending journalists worldwide

Fiji should halt censorship and media expulsions

New York, April 13, 2009--Fiji's interim government must relax its reporting restrictions after the government declared a 30-day state of emergency on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Three foreign reporters have since been ordered to be deported and one local journalist detained, according to international news reports, and newspapers and broadcasts have been censored. ... Continued on refWrite refBloggers Insert (Apr14,2k9).

Calendar: Happy Easter!

Christ is risen!

-- refWrite publisher and staff

Economy USA: Banks: Some banks rise, investors respond with "biggest jump" since 1933

Eric Martin and Lynn Thomasson in their Blomberg.com report, "US Stocks Gain, Capping Biggest Jump since 1933 as Banks Rise" (Apr10,2k9), documenting a steady 5-week rise. That's the plus side. But, in a short work week due to a holiday,

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added [only] 0.8 percent to 8,083.38 this week. U.S. exchanges are closed today for Good Friday.

The positive trend is confirmed a day after Prez Obama's remark about "glimmers of hope" in the economy. Michael Fletcher reports the President's take in "On economuy, Obama sees glimmers of hope and signs of progress."

At the same time, authorities continue to close down banks that have endangered the broad spectrum of their depositors and those who are paying regularly on their loans.

-- EconoMix

Politics Iran: Elections: Mir Hossein Mousava breaks with regime to advocate "personal freedoms"

Thomas Erebrink reports in WaPo (Apr7,2k9)

TEHRAN, April 6 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main opponent in the upcoming presidential election said Monday that he wanted to increase freedoms for Iranians, in part by curbing the so-called morality police who enforce strict interpretations of Islamic laws, such as those requiring women to cover their hair in public.

Former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, speaking at his first news conference since announcing his candidacy for president in the June election, attacked Ahmadinejad's government over its handling of the economy, the "extremism" of the president's rhetoric and the strictures that have been imposed on daily life and public discourse.

In the intraMuslim political dispute, there's no one contesting the regime's foreign policy and nuclear adventurism, policies which are "largely controlled by the country's unelected supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a National Security Council that includes dozens of political leaders."

-- Politicarp

Asian Pacific: Indonesia: Secular parties lead 1st round of Prez vote, Islamist parties tone done their fanaticism

In Christian Science Monitor reporter Simon Montlake's article, "In Indonesia, secular parties confirm appeal" (Apr9,2k9) informs us that in early returns from the national election,

The three largest secular parties took more than half of the votes, according to projections based on poll sampling.

Meanwhile, the position of the often-rabid Islamist parties has slid. To make an international contrast, the ruling party in constitutionally-secular Turkey is an Islamic party that is neither fanatical nor rabid, and abides by the secular constitution. Perhaps that distinction -- Turkey's party is Islamic, Indonesia's have appeared to be Islamicist in the worst sense of the word-- is appropriate. Muslim-dominated Indonesia has not been the same as Muslim-dominated Turkey, but perhaps a new trend is emerging.

The Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, the most conservative Islamist party in the race [in Indonesia], polled around 8 percent, similar to the last elections. Other Muslim parties vying for parliamentary seats saw their share of the national vote fall. A total of 38 parties contested the elections.

The country's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is running for a new term. In July, he will be ballotted against his rivals of the other leading secular parties.

I consider this development to be exceptionally good news.

-- Politicarp

Europe: Moldova: Communist-gov police take back parliament from youth protestors who used Twittert

In IrishTimes.com (Apr9,2k9), Daniel McLaughlin updates our post yesterday

MOLDOVAN AUTHORITIES cracked down on anti-government demonstrators yesterday, arresting some 200 people, threatening to use guns to quell unrest and accusing neighbouring Romania of orchestrating the protests.

Police retook control of parliament and the president’s office and arrested 193 people who had allegedly been involved in storming the buildings on Tuesday in protest at an election victory by the ruling Communist Party which they claimed was riddled with vote-rigging and fraud.

Communist president Vladimir Voronin accused his critics of staging a coup and said Romania was behind the unrest, prompting the expulsion of the Romanian ambassador to Moldova and the recall of Moldova’s envoy in Bucharest.

While Mr Voronin and his communist allies have sought to balance relations between Russia and the EU, and enjoy the support of many older Moldovans, the younger generation looks solely to the EU for its future and is deeply suspicious of the local communist elite and of Moscow.

How the younger generation registered its conflict with the Communist puppet regime (after all Moldova needs oil from Russia, but shares no border with it; Moldova shares borders with Romania, an EU and NATO member, and Ukraine--which was itself blackmailed by Russia over oil supply in the winter) has been attributed to Twitter, computers, and handhelds among the youth. Apparently they don't trust the official newspapers, radio and TV; whereas their "grandmothers" do. For one thing, the youth are concerned that Romania will have to close the border with Moldova, becoming an EU border; the door will be closed to European jobs for Moldovan youth. So, the Moldovan Communist govt is itself preparing to close the border with Romania.

Europe: Moldova: Communist-run gov sees Moldova parliament overrun by Europists

Alex Rodriguez reports that "10,000 protesters break through police lines and ransack the [parliament] building, as well as the offices of President Vladimir Voronin. They claim recent elections were rigged" (Apr7,2k9, Los Angeles Times).

-- Politicarp

Journalism: Canada: Prestigious commentator thinks Obama suffered diplomatic defeat at London Summit

US Prez Obama went to the London Summit

looking for an international agreement to pursue stimulus measures, convinced that the approach he's pursuing domestically is the way to end the global economic crisis. In the weeks leading up to the summit, his officials had already backed off their demand for a commitment to a specific figure; namely, the IMF recommendation of 2 per cent of GDP.

Still, arriving in London, U.S. President Obama was quite isolated. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was sympathetic, but the Governor of the Bank of England had already warned the Labour government that it was out of fiscal running room and that a visit from the IMF was just around the corner.

As the OECD reported this week, Canada does have fiscal room to pursue further stimulus measures. And, aside from his own objectives related to the regulation of financial institutions, Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to help Mr. Obama. The reality, however, is that Canada has very limited clout at these meetings.

In the end, Mr. Obama had to give way - principally to French and German objections. Worse, from the American point of view, the stimulus that was agreed to at the meeting is particularly costly for U.S. taxpayers.

The writer Norman Specter, perhaps Canada's most prestigious journalist, in his blog (Apr2,2k9).

But Mr. Specter may not understand Obama's goals, his strategy, for the Summit and his following visits to Paris, Prague, and Turkey. He advocated that the European Union admit Turkey to membership.

-- Politicarp

G20 Summit: Global Economy: new apparatus will subordinate national economic regulatory bodies to world economic law

Dick Morris has been reading the documents produced by the recently completed London G20
Summit. He pinpoints a monumental action laying out the jurdicial basis for a Global Economic Union. He writes ("The Declaration of Independence has been repealed," Apr6,2k9):

The joint communiqué [of G2 London 2k9] essentially announces a global economic union with uniform regulations and bylaws for all nations, including the United States. Henceforth, our [USA Securities Exchange Commission], Commodities Trading Commission, Federal Reserve Board and other regulators will have to march to the beat of drums pounded by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), a body of central bankers from each of the G-20 states and the European Union.

One need not follow Morris all the way in his line of thawt, but he focuses us on key systemic and structural change that we need to understand. This G20 action will be the cause of many debates of philosophy of law for many Constitution-oriented Americans.

-- Lawt

Juridics: Afghanistan: World scream against Shi-ite Sharia Law on women

Washington Post's excellent report, "Afghan Law on Women Brings Societal Conflict Onto World Stage," by Pamela Constable (Apr5,2k9):

the legal repression of Afghan Shiite women has created a global uproar, bringing condemnation from Western governments and U.N. officials, just as Washington and NATO are debating their military and economic commitment to Afghanistan and the faltering war against Islamist insurgents.

Critics charge that the new Shiite Personal Status Law, signed last week by President Hamid Karzai, would enshrine the rights of Shiite men to sexually enslave their wives and keep them imprisoned at home. Western leaders have compared the law to the Taliban era of 1996 to 2001, when Sunni extremists ruled Afghanistan and banned women from work and school.

What is not mentioned in the report had been broken the day before, in "Afghan Law That Legalizes Rape Poses Problem for Obama and Clinton" (Apr4,2k9, Fox News).

-- Lawt

USA: Auto Industry: Obama govt h+prioritizes "electrification of the vehicle"

In a stunning report on not-so-micro management of the auto industry by the full-programme Obama economic-recovery policy, Jeff Green and John Hughes (Apr5,2k9, Blomberg) outline how "the Obama administration has put such a high priority on the electrification of the vehicle that it would be a very difficult policy decision to drop the Volt [GM's projected electric car, due on the market Nov2k10].

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration, pressing for more fuel-efficient vehicles, won’t block General Motors Corp.’s Chevrolet Volt electric car even after the president’s task force called it too expensive, a person familiar with the matter said.

Questions about the plug-in Volt’s future arose after the administration ousted Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner on March 27 and criticized the car in a report that said government-supported GM’s recovery plan was insufficient.

“While the Chevy Volt holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short-term,” according to the March 30 report by President Barack Obama’s auto task force.

The administration’s concerns about the Volt were offset by its belief that GM needs cleaner, fuel-efficient vehicles to succeed in the long term, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the task force’s deliberations are private. GM’s problems may mean the company won’t meet its timetables for producing and selling the Volt though, the person said.

The automaker said yesterday it still plans to deliver the vehicle to showrooms in November 2010, as planned.

For those interested in Christian social philosophy from the reformational standpoint, this particular issue of how green policy becomes more important to the making of cars, than the bad-business-as-usual of General Motors and United Auto Workers. These latter are a decade late in making the transition to electric battery driven vehicle engines. The govt has had the wisdom to displace the regime of whimpering drones at GM, and to guide the GM bureaucracy into making electrocars instead of simply catering to an ignorant public's current tastes. The issue may well reveal how focal the problem of "realizing the norm" and "simultaneity of norm-realization" have to become in the theorizing about societal spheres, and the general philosophical doctrine of societal-sphere sovereignty.

-- EconoMix

Further Research:

Obama uses taxes to push electrocars
Obama/Schwarzenegger push electrocars

NATO: Leadership: Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen takes over as Secretary General of NATO, adopts Obama's Afghan agenda

With the North Koreans apparently completing their attempted satellite-emplacement, only to be awarded a lacklustre failure, but still offering to the world a strange cocky visual contrast (TV) to the G20 other industrialized countries. The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was in meeting to forfend a worsening of the world economic crisis; NATO's moves in conjunction with Obama's world anti-terrorist policy would just not be put totally into news-eclipse, as perhaps the NorKors had caculated, mistakenly.

Still, it remains to be seen how much re-inforcement a Denmark-led NATO can muster against those Afghanis and Pakistanis who led worldwide extremist Muslim-mass anti-Denmark demonstrations, a result of the Danish government's previous failure to protect Muslims from the Prophet-insulting cartoons two or so years ago, the Danes being led at the time by none other than former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, now headed to NATO.

Our title-link to this blog-entry will take you to a fine article, "Denmark’s New Premier Faces Sliding Polls, Deepening Recession" by Christian Wienberg (Apr6,2k9; Bloomberg). The report covers the background of the elder Rasmussen, and an assessment of his successor's situation. The former Finance Minister has succeeded the new NATO official. From cabinet status to new Prime Minister, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, has problems enuff (besides carrying the same surname as his NATO-bound predessor).

-- Politicap

Further Research:

London G20 Summit website
G20 Info Centre

Asia: Missile Launch: Japan supine under NorKor's overpass (no new satellite set yet)

BBCNews reports "North Korea 'has launched rocket' (Apr5,2k9):

North Korea says it is sending a satellite into orbit, but its neighbours suspect the launch is a cover for a long-range missile test.

Japan, South Korea and the US condemned the launch as a provocative act.

America would take "appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity", a US state department spokesman said.

Japan says it is seeking an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

A more geospecific geopacific thawt is reported by Linda Sieg and Jack Kim in Reuters (Apr5,2k9).

The United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is actually the test of a Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.

I can't help thinking that NorKor's strategic planners chose the date on which they would today overpass Japan (without permission to do so,of course), chose the date to eclipse the news-worthiness of the society of industrial nations at the forefront of the world economy, meeting vaingloriously at the G2 Summit.

But the overpassing of the country of Japan, whether or not one NorKor intention may be true in regard to the G2 conference on the world economic crisis, certainly the fly-over "the air space" of Japan--dropping 1st-stage rocketry before arc-ing over Japan's territory, then overpassing the furious country below it; and then the NorKor Missile also dropped its used-up 2nd-stage rocketry, plop into the Pacific, somewhere in the vast oceanic space between North Korea and the United States of America and Her Majesty's Dominion of Canada.

Meanwhilew, the NorKor Missile (NKM) is reportedly speeding on its way, presumably carrying a satellite to set into some strategic space-place, an orbit for possible 24-hour transmission. But, with the world press agog, no new NorKor satellite has yet appeared in the Heavens in orbit around Earth and independent of the rocket which may yet accomplish its stated mission. The latter's remains perhaps to later splash down somewhere on Earth again.

I'm watching this ongoing news-story with considerable interest (agog?)

-- Politicarp

Brits: Brilliant Kooks: Pundit Christopher (Atheist) Hitchens defaces odious poltcl sect in Beirut, gets smashed (nearly)

Late last month, Beirut (in the persons of 6 Syrian Social Nationalist Party adherents -- were they the same "burly youths" of everlasting sociliast fiction?) attacked the redoubtable stalwart and always-somewhat drunk Christofer Hitchins, a laudable Trotskyist writer most closely associated with a militant Kurdish social revolutonary party.

His travelling companion and fellow freelance reporter of the world's political hotspots, Michael Totten, who recounted this latest obyssey most vividly (or is that most bonvivantly?), tells well the story that self-satirizes its own narrative, and gently lets Hitchens off without a hitch.

--Politicarp

Pop Music: Lionel Richie: Dancin' on the Cielin'

USA: Economy: Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner in crucible, Obamonomics in question

The New York Times article by Jackie Colmes, "Treasury Secretary facing defining moment" (Mar18,2k9), is the first profile of the Treasury Department's head that I've read to date. I found this Colme's item quite interesting. First, it gives us some specificities regarding Geithner's achievements and overall "career path" to his present Cabinet-status in the US government of these 'troubling times.' Second, Colmes attempts to be precise about the Secretary's immediate political situation; so, to an avid political reader who reflects on wide-reading, the Colmes piece has verisimilitude. For now, I'll just trust the basic informativity of Geithner's profile here established.

The piece doesn't take up the matter of Timbos unpaid income taxes, belatedly now repaid. He also apologized. It was a lapse of memory, he felt.

--EconoMix

International: Economy: Read about the Gaussian math that "Whiz" applied to credit risk -- refWrite page 2

USA: Economy: Christian political leader blasts American financial & business leadership of 'collapse'

In a recent article, Dr James Skillen (executive director of Citizens for Public Justice USA until October 2009) bristled indignantly, "Can Trust Be Restored?" (Root & Branch (Feb23.2l9).

Let me put it more bluntly. People are not just angry about bankers’ big bonuses and auto company CEOs’ private jets; they are angry that they got taken by “the system” — by banks, by mortgage companies, by investment advisers, and by the government that aided and abetted and gave no warning of the coming collapse. As in a stagecoach robbery, writes Janet Tavakoli, “Wall Street bankers made off with the loot without firing a shot. They were enabled by Washington overseers and financial regulators who—when not beneficiaries of the good times—behaved like ostriches. Meanwhile, news of the fact that no one in the US has been brought to justice has not escaped notice” (Financial Times, 2/5/09). The authorities oversaw and even encouraged the increasing leveraging of debt until the whole country was overextended, leading to the crash. One of the biggest culprits, according to John Kay, was the “diversified financial conglomerates” created after Washington abolished the Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial and investment banking. The conglomerates, says Kay, “are riddled with conflicts of interest” and their growth “served only the ambitions of the greedy men who ran them and the financial interests of traders, who were allowed to play with sums of money that should never have come into their hands” (Financial Times, 2/11/09). With government having not yet done much to change the system and after several months of trying to prop up all kinds of financial services companies, the hole is getting deeper. Even two months ago, Niall Ferguson could write, the Fed itself “increasingly resembles a public hedge fund, leveraged at more than 50:1” (Financial Times, 12/19/08).

International: Economy: Bailout billions paid to French & German big banks by AIG

BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, blogs on the nexus between these corporate entities: Goldman Sachs (USA), American International Group (USA), Societe General (France), Deutsche Bank (German), and Barclays (Brit)... "and the whole world" (quips Fox's early morning show host Doucey) -- all these, say Peston and Doucey, were getting paid off by AIG with tax monies. "The Goldman infallibility myth" (Mar16,2k9).

USA: Economy: like alchemical formula 'as below, so above' the rot at the top was reflected far down the wealth chain

Reuters offers a very fact-assertive and thawt-provoking news report on an aspect of the American economy at this point in its upheaval, and the onslawt of "depression"; the article is reported by Emily Kaiser and edited by David Dalgleish ("edited" here means Dalgleish removed something from Kaiser's article). "U.S. household wealth falls $11.2 trillion in 2008," (Kaiser, Mar12,2009):

Home mortgage debt fell at a 1.6 percent pace -- the third consecutive quarter of declines -- and consumer credit dropped at a 3.2 percent rate.

The build-up in household debt was one of the most striking elements of the five-year housing boom, which peaked in 2006. Consumers recorded double-digit annual increases in mortgage debt from 2001 through 2006, some of that in the form of cash-out refinancing that helped fuel strong spending.

Just how much rising wealth contributed to consumer spending is a subject of much debate but it is thought to be somewhere around 5 cents on the dollar. It is less clear how much households will cut back now that their wealth has been depleted.

Is this 'the unmasking of capitalism' that Goudszwaard 'radical Christians' are nowadays talking about?

Terrorism: Northern Ireland: IRA resurgents kill Brit soldiers, policeman

I've been hearing thru blogs (closer to the situation in Ulster), there seems to be widespread discontent in the working-class ranks of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party members and their more independent brethren ("the prods"). But word most timely now comes via BBC that the Loyalists 'will not strike back' at the IRA resurgent terrorist splinter-groups (Mar11,2k9). At least so says Frankie Gallagher of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRGP) who had met Sinn Fein's Tom Harley on Wednesday. Gallagher advises the "loyalist paramilitary UDA.

--Politicarp

Calendar: Lent Music: Thankyou Bob Dylan

Here's a snippet of the lyrics by Bob Dylan for his great song, Knockin' on Heaven's Door (original version with HT to Maggie's Farm

Mama, take this badge off of me
I can't use it anymore.
It's gettin' dark, too dark for me to see
I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door.

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore.
That long black cloud is comin' down
I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door."

Knockin' knockin' ....


Owlb

Politics USA: Economy: Prez signs hugenormous Spending law in political-economic experiment

USA President Obama has responded to the spending/stimulus law written by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

"I do think that the possibilities of thinking inwardly are very great," he said. "And you see it happening. You see it happening to presidents. You see it happening to members of Congress and the Senate."

The president has also learned quickly that achieving a spirit of bipartisanship in Washington may be easier said than done. Obama's economic stimulus bill, which passed the Senate today in a vote of 61-37, has been widely criticized by Republicans.

Obama stressed that, given the current economic climate, "not doing anything is simply not an option."

"I think there are a number of different arguments that have been leveled at, at this recovery package," he said. "There are a set of folks who just don't believe in government intervening in the marketplace, period. ... I think that fight's already been won; the American people certainly think so. That's not the argument that makes much sense to them."

The tiny datestamp on the article cited and livelinked says Feb18,2k9; so I'll go with that. "Obama: 'There is no easy way out' for Wall Street," ABC News in assocation with USA Today, unsigned interview. So it's much like an editorial.

Demurring from the logic of the presidential criticism, here I just want to point out that the law, tho written at the President's behest by the Democratic Congressional leadership, House Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Majority leader Reid with their in-place Democrat-led committees, willynilly produced a "package" that may or may not lead to or achieve "economic recovery," a law the text of which inherently depends upon the validity of certain unarticulated assumptions--not least regarding overall presuppositions about the USA political economy. The nature of the law's confectioning requires acknowledgement of its quality as an experiment in whether the Pelosi-Reid law's newly-instituted expenses, grants, and porkupiney delicacies will actually work well together to buy the envisioned recovery of the economy.

Politicarp

Juridics: Tribal Pakistan: Country's govt approves Sharia Law in Talib-land

CNN commentator Campbell Brown gives us the gist when Pakistan "cuts a deal with the Taliban allowing a declaration of strict Islamic law."

Reporter Jane Perlez in Islamabad Pakistan adds the punch to the gist, Pakistan makes a Taliban truce, creating a haven," Feb17,2k9, International Herald Tribune

The government announced Monday that it would accept a system of Islamic law in the Swat valley and agreed to a truce, effectively conceding the area as a Taliban sanctuary and suspending a faltering effort by the army to crush the insurgents.

The concessions to the militants, who now control about 70 percent of the region just 100 miles from the capital, were criticized by Pakistani analysts as a capitulation by a government desperate to stop Taliban abuses and a military embarrassed at losing ground after more than a year of intermittent fighting. About 3,000 Taliban militants have kept 12,000 government troops at bay and terrorized the local population with floggings and the burning of schools.

Pakistan is building again toward a Islamofascist conflagration.

Politicarp

War: Gaza: Israel surrounds, cuts in half, southern Palestinian enclave

The press* is gasping and grasping to report developments in Israel's defense assault on hyperfanatical Hamas which had long supplied a steady rain of rockets on Israeli territory. Hamas is a nationalist-Palestinian Islamic terrorist organization, with a world agenda, and a power base in the dense urban districts in Gaza. These districts and their neighborhoods have been "wired" by the Hamas Defense Force. How Hamas came to power in Gaza in the last 2 yrs (I should factcheck my time estimation); and then, as I mentioned, once solidly in power in Gaza, how Hamas institutionalized the dribble of rocket attacks into Israeli populations, a practice already indigenous to some Gazans, finally instituted that continuous dribble into a regular bombardment of Israelis, even civilians, of course: all these details constitute a book in themselves (of which there shall be dozens, we may be sure).

In the second info wave of the news cycle on this story, one got word from Jerusalem Post reporters Yaakov Katz and JPost.com staff (Jan3,2k9, Saturday nite Israel Defense Forces [IDF] "[were sweeping] into northern Gaza Strip." Meanwhile, the Cabinet (an often creaky coalition) "approved the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists, mostly from combat units, but also from the Home Front Command" -- just short, it seems to me, of a total mobilization of the society for war, just in case --

sources said that the goal was to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites. Soldiers from the Armored Corps, Engineering Corps, and Paratroopers, Givati, Golani brigades were participating in the fighting, with at least four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip. ¶ The sources said that a majority of the rockets fired into Beersheba [Israel] and Ashdod [Israel] were launched from the northern Gaza Strip.

One of the major aims of the operation was also to deliver a serious blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimated had not been severely weakened under the air campaign. ¶[But] The IDF would not enter Gaza City or the refugee camps .... "We must end the hostile actions against Israel... We will not abandon our citizens."

Tens of thousands of IDF combat reservists called up> by Jaakov Katz and JPost.com
AP and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report

In the third wave of info, the Israeli cabinet seems to be noting that the close-off date for their overwhelming counter-assault will be the impending arrival of France's Nikolas Sarkozy, an emisssary for world leadership everywhere (but the USA) calling for an immediate ceasefire. Israel will not be able to withstand such a formal diplomatic encounter on the issue, and will agree to a ceasefire, however with conditions I would imagine.

In the West Bank territory of Palestine, under the Palestinian Authority, and the Presidency of Mahmoud Abbas, leading lite of the Fatah Party (descended from Yasser Arafat), another political process is going on. The Abbas forces had been negotiating for six-months for a permanent ceasefire. The Hamas attacks against Israel nevertheless continued. Then Israel withdrew from the West Bank talks, and launched the current counter-assault.

"The fragmentation has really frustrated the population," said Qais Abdul Karim, a Palestinian Legislative Council member who belongs to neither Fatah nor Hamas. "There is no unity in the national movement and no unity in the street. These attacks have increased the divisions. They should have done the opposite.

That dynamic may explain, at least in part, why public reaction to the Gaza strikes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been milder than many analysts predicted.

At this very moment there seem to be two Arab entities in conflict, the West Bank (PA, Abbas, Fatah) vs. Gaza (Hamas).

The rift between the two factions hit a critical point in June 2007, when Hamas ousted Fatah security forces from Gaza after bloody street battles. Since then, Hamas, which won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, has had sole control of Gaza. Fatah has continued to exercise power in the West Bank, where it has banned Hamas from political activity.

The fortunes of the two territories -- which together with East Jerusalem would make up a future Palestinian state -- have diverged sharply since the Hamas takeover of Gaza. While economic conditions for the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank have improved as international development money poured in, Gaza's 1.5 million people have suffered under a strict Israeli embargo.

In Ramallah, seat of power for the Fatah-run administration and one of the wealthiest cities in the West Bank, businessmen sip lattes in European-style cafes and car dealerships showcase gleaming new Mercedes-Benzes. In Gaza City, the home base of Hamas, donkeys sometimes outnumber cars because of fuel shortages and residents fight over their daily allocation of bread.

Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in both territories -- which are separated by about 30 miles of Israeli land -- have deepened the sense of disconnection between Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel's attacks on Gaza deepen Palestinian rift by Griff Witte, Jan1,2k9.WaPo.

Now, you will notice that I have reversed the empirical time-order on this sequence, but logically it brings to where we could draw a conclusion, as it were, from Gaza as an "independent" enclave south of Israel, but being Arabic culturally and linguistically, Gaza becomes Egypt's problem. A joint arrangement between the UN and the Organization of Arab States could designate Egypt to have ultimate control of Gaza as a trusteeship. Let Egypt dismantle Hamas.

Juridics Rwanda: Theo Bagosora, Chief of Staff, in Defense Ministry during Rwanda massacre, gets lifetime jail

A colonel and chief of staff for Rwanda's defense ministry, Theoneste Bogosora, was finally convicted after a 5 year-long trial in nearby country of Tanzania, convicted by an international court set-up for the purpose. The criminal tribunal did not find the culprit guilty of a "planned ...extermination from the beginning," reports Chris McGreal, "'Enemies of humanity' jailed for war crimes," Guardian, Dec19,2k8.

The man accused of masterminding the 1994 Rwanda genocide, Theoneste Bagosora, was jailed for life by an international court yesterday as prosecutors described his conviction as the most significant since Nuremberg.

Bagosora, 67, a former colonel who was the chief of staff in Rwanda's defence ministry, was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes at the end of a five-year trial after judges found that he used the military and an extremist Hutu militia to kickstart the massacre of about 800,000 Tutsis in 100 days.

There are many things that don't add up to this day about the Rwandan genocide. The campaign of Barack Obama made much of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, noting the USA was remiss in not ending it; but he made no mention of Rwanda's genocide in 1994 which the US did nothing about, presumably because of the hotly-won policy of the Black Congressional Caucus that America should no longer intervene in African matters, even wars and genocides. It was this policy that Clinton followed into inaction.

Because now genocide has been officially defined as a cause for intervention (such interventions are rather limited to Western governments) with very heavy sanctions, Western and any other states possibly ready to act, are cautioned--due to the circumstances of UN policy and the collateral agreements states have entered into for the purpose of prevention. Thus, generally, little or nothing stops the killers or delays the intervention until the victims are dead on a vast scale.

Politicarp

Juridics USA: Here's some Google Reader selections from our publisher

Lawt

Politics Greece: Universities hub of anarchist revolutionary surge among students

Athens Polytechnic University today serves as a hub for revolutionary anarchists leading the violent students protests there, according to Nicole Itano, "A Sanctuary for dissent in Greece?" (CSM, Dec15,2k8).

As Greeks try to make sense of the chaos – and prepare for another week of protests, ranging from sit-ins to nationwide roadblocks – many here are beginning to ask whether the asylum law is protecting free speech or simply harboring criminals.

"The university asylum is for the freedom of movement of ideas, but not of commitment of criminal actions," says George Bergeles, a professor at the Polytechnic who is sympathetic to the students' complaints, but not their harsh tactics. "The law about university asylum I believe is a fantastic achievement of the university movement, but we should protect it by not allowing criminal offenses to happen inside."

The Polytechnic holds historic importance for Greeks. In November 1973, students barricaded themselves inside in rebellion against the country's military junta, which had been in power since 1967. Fearful that the revolt would spread, on Nov. 17 the national police moved in with tanks, killing a still-disputed number of protesters.

The revolutionaries have no goal of replacing one government with another, as they are led apparently by anarchists. The week-long revolution began as a protest against the death of a student shot by a policeman.

Economics USA: Half a million lost jobs in November 2008

In what seems to be the largest figure for job losses since the Seventies among American workers --533,000 across the month of November -- translates to an unemployment rate of 6.7% of the workforce.

This month, the figure and rate will probably rise (at least marginally). Were that not sufficient a problem in itself, we must also keep in mind that people going thru job loss are likely to be "the lowly borrower at risk of foreclosure" as well. Christian Science Monitor's Mark Trumbull article "Housing: the key to economic survival" (Dec12,2k8) lays out the landscape:

The problem reached a stark milestone last week, as the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that 1 in 10 mortgage holders is either in foreclosure or at least a month late on payments.

President-elect Obama, the Democratic-controlled Congress, and the independent Federal Reserve are all considering new ways to stabilize the housing market.

But attention has already turned away from the loan defaulters, especially those trying to keep up with their monthly payments (mortgaged home-owners), political attention re-focusing itself on a bailout of the "Big Three" American-owned automakers. The specific kind of jeopardy that goes with a jobless worker losing a house, is not identical to that of an autoworker losing a job but getting bailed out in some fashion or other (compensation for early retirement and other schemes to reduce the workforce of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler).

A few days earlier, "Ouch! Borrowers Keep Defaulting After Mortgage Modification" by John Carney (Dec8,2k8, ClusterStock via Yahoo! Finance) reports:

36% of borrowers who had their loans modified in the first two quarters of 2008 re-defaulted after just 3 months. After six months, the redefault rate was roughly 56%. After eight months, 58% of borrowers re-defaulted.

These three inter-related trends are not going to reverse themselves, or shift into reversal as a result of government action in the short run.

Economix

Politics: Pakistan moves against terrorist leader of Mumbai slawter

The ignominious name of slawter-mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has been added to the list of terrorist leaders cawt!--in Pakistan! This development is extremely important to note, in that the organization which conducted the Mumbai, India, mass-slawter operation a week ago, has up until now been untouchable by the Pakistan govt. Untouchable because that org, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was sponsored by Pakistan's military intelligence (ISI). Altho it was banned two years ago, many well-informed sources believe that LeT continues to be supported by at least an element in ISI, Pakistan's only intelligence unit, which is firmly embedded in the nation's military forces.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi

The photo and the title link reference the story by AP's Chris Brummit with writers Munir Ahmad in Islamabad, Roshan Mughal in Muzaffarabad and Sam Dolnick in New Delhi, India. No photographer is mentioned by AP.

Politicarp

Economics: Tech firm Cisco pioneers new internal business structure

Under the bizarre headline, "Is Republican John Chambers Turning Socialist?," Sarah Lacey (Yahoo!Finance, Dec8,2k8), almost manages to report a major change going on at the Cisco corporation in regard to its internal business structure. This is what happens when reporters and general public are ignorant of the different types of business structures that are possible, including especially, those types more likely to be assisted in a successful differentiation under presentday tech-innovative digital-info conditions. Such conditions characterize much contemporary business and organizational existence.

Better than the snapshot textual report, Yahoo!Finance also carries a h+ly informative interview on video.



Variant business structural models do not tell us anything about socialism vs capitalism. The term "socialism" has been bandied about much these days, by people who think a stark either/or explanation based on single possibles on each side of the binomial setup (vs.) is sufficient to gain quality knowledge of the subject at hand, and many other subjects as well. Using binomial logic here is strategy of (poor quality) reasoning that only covers-over an analysis of the several types of business structures. In this case, the types are either already extant or, thru historical innovation, are possible to be brawt into reality. For the purpose of an accurate typology, the existents must be mapped with more than two options among types. Differentiation of business-structure types is happening at Cisco (the macro-process of historical differentiation of spheres of society and human relationships has been argued well by philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd).

Today, sometimes the Bush-Obama bailouts are called "socialism," but the better word for the type of relation of government to enterprises, in this case, would rather be "corporatism" (where there are no free enterprises, and society as a whole thru the state is the overall body (corpus), while the non-free enterprises within it and thus are under state control (as, say, limbs of the body politic)--the kind of arrangements variously installed by Fascists and Nazis (think of Volkswagen).

But the present American experiment isn't anywhere near a full-fledged corporatism. It's, rather, quasi-corporatist, definitely not socialist, and in either case has nothing to do with the Cisco business internal-structure model or management approach. Cisco is a capitalist business enterprise; has not received any bailout; delivers a portion of its profits as dividends to stockholders; and evidences a good fit between its product line and its innovative management style. In comparison, much corporation leadership seems regressive, witness the banks and financial bandits today who are incapable of innovating sufficiently well to risk a transformation from one type of capitalist-management approach to another more-advanced capitalist-management approach.

That is not to say most American enterprises who use the more historical approaches are, therefore, regressive. Not so, by my estimates. But the leading mortgage, banking, insurance, investment houses, and native auto companies in the USA, receiving or begging for bailouts, are going the corporatist route. All this is due to their poor management as free enterprises, lack of appropriate regulation both internally and by govt agencies for that purpose, and resistance to the proper route toward restructuration--namely, bankruptcy.

EconoMix

Terror: How the Pakistani extremists entered Mumbai, and the aftermath

We reported the recent Mumbai terror earlier (Nov26 refWrite blog entry), and now in the title link we are able to convey the spooky, movie-like opening of the story, how the operatives from Pakistan came ashore in Mumbai's commercial capital (Keith Bradshaw "Armed teams sowed chaos with precision," Nov28,2k8, NYT).

The takeover and then the counter-seige of India's commandos took three days, ending Saturday morning (Nov28), as detailed by Somini Sengupta and Keith Bradshaw (same date, NYT):

Soldiers were still combing the [Taj Mahal] hotel, going room to room in search of remaining gunmen, but the siege appeared finally to have ended, J. K. Dutt, director general of the National Security Guard, an elite commando force, said in the news conference at 9 a.m. Firefighters were permitted to begin pouring water over the flames that had burned out of control in the hotel’s lower floors for as much as an hour while the commandos battled the terrorists.

It was the third day of a siege that has shaken India, raised tensions with neighboring Pakistan and prompted questions about the failure of the authorities to anticipate the tragedy or to react swiftly enough as it unfolded.

Also under assault, adding up to a total of 10 sites, was the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold café, and Nariman House (a hospitality center maintained by a Hasidic Orthodox group serving the 4,000-10,000 Jews of India and, of course, Jews visiting Mumbai from anywhere around the world). The assault on the House was thwarted from above, when Indian commandos rapelled down on ropes from helicopters onto/into the House, already on Thursday, clearing it out before the Taj could be cleaned out--which took another fateful day.

Yet, as soon as I heard that Nariman House was a Jewish site, I felt earlier speculation that the attackers might be extremist Hindus, whose leading badmouther, Narendra Modi, had arrived outside the Taj to stir the throng against the government; I neverthless discarded the notion that blame here belongs to Hindu far-out politics (SS, "Crisis may shift India's political landscape," Nov28,2k8). India's nationalist Hindu extremists do not seem to be fixated against Jews, not purveyors of anti-Judaism: yet certainly they are anti-Islamic. Most of India's (1.3 billion) Hindu population, hopefully, are neither anti-Jew nor anti-Muslim. But some Hindus are vociferously anti-Islam. Since India's general population is 1.3 billion, we should note that Hindus constitute 80.4%, Muslims 13.4%, Jews 0.4%. [After Muslims, Christians are the largest community (2.3%), and while seeming also to be statistically insignificant, a process of persecution has been underway against them by Hindu extremists, now for sometime.] My statistics are from Wikipedia.

India: terror in Mumbai

What has emerged since the Terror at the Taj is simply that the attackers were anti-India, Islamic extremists from Pakistan and perhaps Kashmir. It is said that there were only 10 terrorists, but that figure seems based on the count of the eye-witness of the original landing at the dock, and is probably true about that group. Nevertheless, the figure 10 seems definitively settled, "India faces reckoning as terror toll eclipses 170 (SS & KB, Nov29,2k8, NYT):

The police chief in Mumbai, Hasan Gafoor, said nine gunmen were killed, the last of whom fell out of the terrace of the Taj Hotel on Saturday morning as the siege ended. ... A man who is suspected to be the 10th gunman was arrested; the police say he is a 21-year-old Pakistani, Ajmal Amir Kasab.

Already, Kasab seems to be spilling his guts, at least to some extent.

However, days before the Mumbai terror, from Pakistan Daily via UPI, came word that India's extremist Hindus are not at all sublimely pacifist. "India shocked by discovery of 1st Hindu terror cell" (unsigned, Nov23,2k8).

Returning to our main theme of the Mumbai assault, Kasab is a Pakistani Muslim and an operative of LET, which works out of the Muslim majority population of Kashmir, struggling ostensibly for Kashmir's independence and definitely in active hostility toward India. "5 Lessons from the deadly Mumbai terrorist attacks," Alex Kingsbury (Dec1,2k8, US News & World Report):

While it's too early to know for sure how many terrorists were involved in the three-day shooting spree in Mumbai, counterterrorism officials in the United States and India are already sifting through the evidence in search of clues.

A Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure), or LET, is the top suspect in the three-day terrorist rampage that left more than 170 people dead, U.S. officials say. "While it's too early to jump to any final conclusions on who may have been responsible for the Mumbai attacks, there are some solid indications that people associated with [LET] were involved," says one U.S. counterterrorism official.

The brazenness of the incident combined with its potential to destabilize the region already has the counterterrorism world searching for lessons learned.

I'm sure we'll soon hear more about Kasab and LET.

Update (Dec4,2k8):

TIME mag's Simon Robinson outlines 4 terrorist networks possibly involved

US backs India's claim against Pakistan intelligence agency (ISI)

Politicarp

Pisteutics & Culture: Here comes Merry ol' Christmas

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent 2008, the annual liturgical season that ends Christmas Eve. We Christians are celebrating the First Coming of Jesus Christ, Christmas Day itself celebrates the Incarnation, God becoming flesh in the body of Jesus, beginning with the Feast of the Nativity. Advent's weeks coincide with Mother Mary's pregnancy during which many related events of the Bible story have their own celebrations during the overall lead-up time. Where Christians are numerous in relation to the general population, Advent and Nativity are also celebrated outside the Church, in public, for the whole world to see. Already in Toronto, l+tes are up on certain festival-oriented streets and on many homes. As Advent proceeds, some streets in this metropolis will experience a steady stream of slow-moving automobiles touring to catch a glimpse of the most brilliantly decked-out lit-up homes.

Then there's the stores, and the consumers so bent on purchasing that this year one Wal-Mart store opened its doors only to experience a consumer trampled to death by other onrushing consumers. But aside from that exceptional mayhem, with a vigourous Hat Tip to Steve Bishop, the cultural uptake of the liturgical events of Christmas afford comparisons with the economic aspect of the culture as it impinges on these faith-chosen days of Winter. Steve's post from YouTube prompted me to follow suit (of course, not that Steve wears suits):



Merry Christmas and clean water to all,
Owlb

Economics USA: New aid to homeowners is "spitting in the wind"

"Fed Risks ‘Spitting in the Wind’ With New Aid Pledges" by Bloomberg's Craig Torres and Scott Lanman, Nov23,2k8 (3rd update)

The Federal Reserve’s new $800 billion effort to combat the financial crisis is designed to make credit more accessible to shaken consumers who aren’t sure they want more debt.

Households and lenders may not respond much because of the wealth destruction from plunging property and stock values, and the deepening economic slump, economists say. That means banks may end up returning the Fed’s new liquidity through deposits at the central bank.

“We are sort of spitting in the wind,” said Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners LP in Greenwich, Connecticut. “Banks won’t be throwing a lot of loans out there when they fear -- rationally -- those loans may not be paid back.”

Policy makers aim to kick-start markets for loans to students, car buyers, credit-card borrowers and small businesses with a new $200 billion program. Backed in part by the Treasury, the Fed will become a new buyer in the market for consumer loans at a time when many traditional holders of the assets, such as off-balance sheet bank units, have collapsed or been dissolved.

More later....

Economix

Economics USA: New Fed move extends help to homeowners, both those already mortgage-foreclosed and those still-struggling to make payments

Headline:

Bailout Shocker:
Fed Government's Move Works!
H o m e o w n e r s . . . H e l p e d !

Nov26,2k8 10:34am EST by Henry Blodget


refWrite: Joe Weisenthanl, editor of ClusterStock, wrote a spoof, the background story of which is Ayn Rand's Objectivism. The title of Joe W.'s piece "Atlas Hedged" (Nov26,2k8) plays with the title of Rand's sect-revered work, the last and thickest of her ideological novels, famously entitled Atlas Shrugged. Joe is alluding to the role of Hedge-Fund funk in The Crisis that continues to rage on, in real life, differently from than phantasmagoria in the imaginal world of libertarian or objectivist fictioneering.

Braced by Weisenthal's sanguine satire, Blodget has his own go at it, but in a more analytic way:

The latest Trash Asset Removal Plan, the $800 billion one the government announced yesterday, is actually making a difference, at least so far.

One of the goals of the plan is to reduce mortgage rates through government buying of mortgage-backed securities, and Fannie and Freddie debt. And it worked immediately. Yesterday saw the biggest mortgage refinancing activity in a year.

If this trend continues, it will allow some homeowners to get out from under onerous adjustable rate mortgages and into cheaper fixed-rate ones--possibly even ones they can afford (at least until they get laid off). This, in turn, will free up some debt-service payments to be used on other things.

Economy USA:
Homeowners and Mortgages

I shoud add that the orthographic semiotics of the bold typefaces, underlines, and bold italics in the foregoing are my own interpretive retexting of the delitefully provocative Wiesenthal. Brief, sweet & sour enuff.

But Blodget pursues the chase (no pun avoidable!) passing Wiesenthal on the road. Then Blodget's done, it seems ... but then again, at length he quotes Wall Street Journal, (is the quoted text another piece of his own?, I wonder...or not). But certainly quoted at length, about the immediate impact of the Fed Government's apparently savvy political-economic action luring banks to adjust mortgage rates downward. WSJ:

Some brokers said it was the most activity they've seen in at least one year, although there was no way to determine to volume of refinancing...

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped by roughly half a percentage point to about 5.5%, for borrowers with good credit scores and substantial equity in their homes, say mortgage brokers and lenders.

While the initial flurry of calls came from people seeking to refinance, economists predicted lower rates also will spur some home buying among bargain-seekers. The surge in refinancing will help the overall economy by putting more cash in consumers' pockets and reducing the pressure on some borrowers struggling to make payments...

The government's latest plans won't fix all the problems bedeviling the housing and credit markets. And it's not clear whether the most recent initiative will keep mortgage interest rates down over the long run.

Yet, at this particular time, a ray of sunshine, a note of hope for the future of the least-of-all-to-be-pitied, the American economic system.

Economix

Terror: Major assault on India's financial-hub city, Mumbai (Bombay)

Somini Sengupta reports Nov26,2k8 from Mumbai for New York Times:

NEW DELHI — Coordinated terror attacks struck the heart of Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, Wednesday night, killing dozens in machine-gun and grenade assaults on at least two five-star hotels, the city’s largest commuter train station, a historic movie theater and a hospital. There were unconfirmed reports of hostages having been taken at one of the hotels.

Mumbai police control room said at least 75 people had died and 240 injured, according to preliminary reports.

This assault was h+ly weaponized, and raises the level of continuing terrorist attacks in this part of India. Altho the chief suspect organization is thawt to be part of ongoing but heightened Islamicist extremists, recently police have been pointing to "a Hindu terror network as well," having made "several arrests."

Whoever the perpetrators prove to be, besides civilians and rank-and-file police,"several senior officers were killed...including the head of the Anti-Terrorism Squad.

A sad day for one of the world's thriving democracies.

Politicarp

Update:
MarketWatch, "Mumbai terror attacks kill 119; markets are closed," Nov27,2k89, by Anthony Lazarus, Lisa Twaronite, Nick Godt, Varahabhotla Phani Kumar, John Letzing. A day-after overview, detailing the financial targets hit and some anticipated outcomes for India's economy. The article also outlines the history of terror attacks in modernday India.

Politics: USA: Gates to stay on as Defense Secretary in Obama's initial Cabinet

Yahoo! News carries a report by Associated Press's Beth Fouhy and David Espo, "Officials: Obama to ask Gates to stay at Pentagon," Nov25,2k8. The re-appointment, however temporary, underscores the remarkably astute moves President-Elect Barack Obama is making generally in shaping his Cabinet and Adminstration for its unprecedented tasks. Robert Gates is a registered Independent, appointed first by Pres. George W. Bush to replace the erstwhile Donald Rumsfeld, whose strategy is largely claimed to have failed in Iraq. Gates now has been appointed to the same post, by Bush's successor.

Meanwhile, former Republican candidate for President, John McCain, will continue to serve in the US Senate. He will be traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan soon, according to a Yahoo! News video report.

Update:
Gates to stay on for a year.
AP Analysis: Obama opts for establishment advisers. Excellent pix of Gen James Jones (retired Marine) as the new Administration's National Security Advisor in the Whitehouse.

Politicarp

War: Iraq a stopgap for Afganstn-Pakstn's enhanced Taliban, Paul Rogers' defeatist swipe at Gen. Petraeus

Paul Rogers constructs the "two wars" into one, the Afghan war, regarding which the non-NATO coalition's efforts in Iraq was only a diversion and rearguard action. No matter that the war in Iraq was older and was against genocide, against the ending of which genocide the Weapons of Mass Destruction argument only served as a supplemental (recall Obama's coy rhetoric claiming the USA had no reason to be engaged in hostilities in Iraq, whereas the genocide in Darfur must be stopped by the USA and its allies). Rogers is hanging a lot of rthetoric, as did Obama, on a capricious hypothesis. So what if there were no WMD's awaiting our invading troops in Iraq; Saddam's genocidal regime had to go.

Now, there are two democracies of sorts functioning in the Muslim Mideast (counting Afghanstn in that designation, at least for the moment).

Of course, two new flawed Mideast democracies later, Rogers is correct that now there is one war. But, having come to share at least implicitly this element of the Petraeus Doctrine of one war, Rogers neglects to give a good accounting of changes in the scope of this now vastly militarized regional conflict in the Mideast. Changes: not only is the Taliban augmented in Pakistan (where, we add that a third democracy has been renewed after the sloughing-off of military dictator Musharraf), but that augmented and enhanced Taliban coalition with tribal/clan entities in Pakstn regularly crosses the border into Afghnstn with considerable impunity. Petraeus is presentlly taking action against the Taliban's power in both countries (while still he is coordinatively active in the third country, Iraq where apparrently Al Qaida has lost its grip).

Paul Rogers (Open Democracy, Nov20,2k8, click the title link) is an old hand at obfuscating in the service of defeatism. President-Elect Barack Obama would do well to dialogue closely, first of all, with Gen. David Petraeus.

Politics: Opposed campaigns compare notes on bipartisan roster of Fed appointee possibles

Steve Clemons, blogging on Huffington Post, Nov22,2k8, tells us:

A senior Obama campaign official shared with The Washington Note and Huffington Post that in July 2008, the McCain and Obama camps began to work secretly behind the scenes to assemble large rosters of potential personnel for the administration that only one of the candidates would lead.

Lists comprised of Democrats and Republicans were assembled, sorted into areas of policy expertise, so that the roster could be called on after the election by either the Obama or McCain transition teams.

This kind of out-of-sight coordination is rare between battling presidential camps and provides some indication that both Obama and McCain intended to draw expertise into their governments from both sides of the aisle -- or at least they wanted to appear interested in doing so if the information leaked out about the list development process.

Fascinating tidbit on cooperation behind battle lines.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

Of course, some of the nasties among Huffington's commenters rushed to this one in order to expose each his/her own conspiracy theory.

Politicarp

Politics: wild satire of last election campaign

Politicarp

Politics: USA Presidency 2009 and new Congress begin to shape up

As President-Elect Obama makes a few appointments to staff for his term, the Congressional situation regarding a number of seats begins to shape up as well
("Democrats Gain as Stevens Loses His Senate Race," Nov19,2k8). Of primary note is the Senate's refusal to seat Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska to yet another term, altho just re-elected (his trial for financial misdeeds, being his stumbling block).

That leaves an empty seat, the filling of which is subject to the appointment by Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, recent national Repubican candidate for the vice-prez job -- which raises the question whether she might choose to self-designate herself into the Senate.

Politicarp

New computer, arms better, etc.

I've got a new computer, and I'll try some occasional blogging. My arms have not fully recovered, so I'll not be promising much of anything.

President-elect Barack Obama will soon officially take office (Jan 2k9).




Update Nov12,2k8: In updating and correcting my initial spelling of the President-Elect's first name, correctly "Barack," I also want to add a URL for an important twist in the Congressional Dem's planned economic legislation, " Democrats Craft Economic Plan for the country and the globe, at least ostensibly.

Politicarp

Suspension of blogging, except occasional posts

Illness, vacations, moving, carpal tunnel, etc, means that refWrite will suspend regular posting for the rest of summer 2007. -- The Publisher