Moving The Goalposts

Moving the goal posts to the 50 yard line doesn't really get you a meaningful win.

And so it is that General Petraeus has now admitted what most of us have already observed about the surge: tactically successful, it does not equate to victory in Iraq.

Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.

Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services.

I read the transcript of a Jim Lehrer interview with Iraq war architect Fred Kagen and his ideological opposition, Nir Rosen, a few days ago (I can't remember how I found it) and was struck by Kagen's tendency to speak in rah rah generalities while Rosen spoke in painful specifics. This has been an interesting tendency by both parties since the beginning, IMO. War proponents speak in lovely generalities and war opponents have been very specific about the issues. I'm a detail person (despite my haphazard and unfocused writing of late) so maybe that's why I have had such a hard time buying the rah rah. Anyway, the interview is here... I found it very interesting. Maybe you will, too.

Religious People Defy Logic... So What Else Is New?

Seriously -- who could believe even half the stuff in the bible as literal truth without some kind of suspension of reason?

I accept that people will say and think a lot of weird stuff as part of their faith... and hopefully they accept that they look a little crazy to the rest of us for it.

To me, for example, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell look nuttier than peanut brittle. They have routinely said crazy things about 9/11 being our fault for straying from God and AIDS as punishment from God for sinful sex. Yet somehow this dynamic duo of nutters manages to retain their conservative icon status within the GOP and association with them is not considered a political kiss of death (although I think most thinking conservatives calmly recognize their brand of crazy for what it is).

Meanwhile, conservative candidates like John McCain seek out crazy bible freaks like James Dobson -- he who sees pain of death as a useful way to keep women from having pre-marital sex-- for their endorsement in every election cycle.

Now we find out that Obama has his own relationship with crazy preachers. In a way we should find this racial commonality reassuring... black religious nuts are just as crazy as white religious nuts. But - unfortunately - it's going to be a distraction in this election until Obama rejects and denounces this man's crazy tirades. I hope he does so quickly and sincerely.

My point here is not to excuse Obama's crazy preacher... I think I've been very honest about my distrust and disdain of "religion" at least a dozen times on this blog. In my opinion, the entire world would be much better off without the constant perversion of religion in politics. Certainly guys like Dobson, Falwell, Robertson, and now Wright are not in the best interests of this country.

By the way... because it's worth reading in context of Obama's crazy preacher quotes all over the news, here's the text from the Falwell/Robertson riff on 9/11 (within days of the attack). Tell me they're not birds of a feather.

Then Falwell said, "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."

Robertson replied, "Well, Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror, we haven't begun to see what they can do to the major population."

Falwell said, "The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."

Robertson said, "I totally concur, and the problem is we've adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government, and so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do, and the top people, of course, is the court system."

Falwell added, "Pat, did you notice yesterday that the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, the People for the American Way, NOW, etc., were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress, as they went out on the steps and and called out to God in prayer and sang 'God bless America' and said, let the ACLU be hanged. In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time, calling on God."

Daily Dose Of Stupid

This is the most stupid thing I have seen in a long time. And by stupid, I mean so uninformed it must be willful ignorance.

Stuff like this is the reason I quit reading Red State. There are conservatives whose opinions interest me and then there are these people.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Today, March 13, 2008 -- wayyyyy after the fact and way too late to affect anything -- Bushiac Treasury Secretary Paulson is bravely appearing on my teevee to propose strengthening Federal oversight of the credit markets.

Oh my gawd, rolling on the floor laughing. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to pose as a voice of moral clarity and authority in this mess after spending years pushing the policies that enabled it.

What a bunch of losers.

Thoughts?

Gold is nearing a new $1000 record.

People can call this rush to commodities whatever they like but it sure seems to me like investors -- who have insisted on double digit returns ever since the tech boom -- are creating a new bubble for their financial enjoyment. Since there isn't a more attractive place to park their money right now, they're focusing on commodity futures.

As they start to drive up prices, I can't help but wonder what this bodes for the rest of us, for whom things like gasoline and food are part of daily survival and not just a portfolio asset.

Dollar Falls Below The Troubled Yen

I'm not smart about these things but it doesn't sound good.

Et Tu, Texas?

Texas, you could have been a contender! But - alas -- you no longer count.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has won the Texas Democratic caucuses and will get more delegates out of the state than his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won the state's primary, according to CNN estimates.

For those keeping score...

Hillary's official list of boutique, latte-sipping states in search of feelings :

Iowa
Nevada
South Carolina
Alabama
Alaska
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Minnesota
North Dakota
Utah
Louisiana
Nebraska
Washington
Maine
Maryland
Virginia
Hawaii
Wisconsin
Vermont
Wyoming
Mississippi
Texas

Hillary's official list of latte-sipping non-states in search of feelings:

Democrats Abroad
U.S. Virgin Islands
District of Columbia

Hillary's official list of hard working blue collar American states that matter:

New Hampshire
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Ohio
Rhode Island

Hillary's official list of states that would have mattered more if they hadn't tied in delegates:

Missouri

Random Thought

Is it worth leaving the pizza in the box?

Rich Man's Capitalism

Market is up 400 after the Fed agreed to knowingly back bad debt.

Hoping to ease the credit crisis, the Fed -- acting with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank -- agreed to loan investment banks money in exchange for debt, including slumping mortgage-backed securities.

The idea is to create a market for assets that investors have recently been too scared to buy. That freeze in demand had sent asset values plunging and caused huge losses for some of the world's biggest banks.

After a series of hefty losses in stocks, the market hopes the central banks' decision Tuesday might be more effective than previous moves -- like rate cuts, which had led to initial stock pops that later fizzled.

"It's not just a rate cut. I think it's a very creative way to do financing," said Anthony Conroy, managing director and head trader for BNY ConvergEx Group. "It shows the Fed is willing to do things that are a little out-of-the-box to shore up credit issues. I really think they went to the heart of the issue."

Wall Street's version of capitalism: privatize the profit, socialize the cost. No consequences for bad risk taking -- the rich get richer and the rest of us pick up the tab. It's not like the Fed is loaning money against good paper... the Fed is loaning money against paper they know is bad.

But hey -- social security is eeeeeevil!!!

All of the talking heads on the teevee seem to think this is super fabulous but it's leaving my blood boiling. At one time I would have agreed that it was important to keep the macro-economy flowing at any cost but now I think we're just aiding and abetting a system that benefits a few at the expense of many.

The investment banks are bailed out but thank God the regular Joes who made bad mortgage choices can still be properly chastised and beaten. Someone's got to be made to pay for this moral outrage, after all. Fortunately we rigged up the bankruptcy legislation good and tight to ensure they'll suffer properly for their sins. Yay! Feel better?

p.s. Funny how this great idea came about just as Carlyle Group was starting to feel the pain.

Mississippi

Obama wins.

Congratulations to the newest state that doesn't count! Predictably, Mississippi has a few flaws:

• Too southern
• Too poor
• Too small
• Too black

We're still feeing very, very honored that it participated in the democratic process, however, so we're choosing to focus on the positive:

• It's probably not muslim as far as we know.
• Although it's not experienced enough to be a state, it's definitely qualified to be a territory or even a colony.
• It promptly apologized for calling Georgia a mean name.

Way to go, Miss Issippi!

ü

$109

I am amazed that the media isn't giving this concept more play because the impact of speculation on energy costs (and other critical commodities like food) is huge. It was all quite fun to see speculators driving up the cost of real estate when our houses were appreciating but I think this is going to be somewhat less fun. Regarding $109 oil:

"This surge to new records is driven by the speculative and large funds moving money into commodities. It's primarily a U.S. dollar and inflation play by financial investors," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

I've said it before: Tech. Real estate. Oil. Food.

Not good.

Two Thoughts

To be clear, I have no sympathy for Eliot Spitzer. I do, however, have a few additional thoughts:

1. These are very interesting questions.

2. Spitzer's misdeeds and hypocrisy do not absolve the people he previously prosecuted. Those folks should crawl off my teevee screen and back into the woodwork.

Buh-Bye

R.I.P., Eliot Spitzer's career. We hardly knew ye.

(But we may get to know Client 9 pretty well, and his lady friends, too!)


After thought: What do you suppose is the difference between a $1000 an hour prostitute and a $3000 an hour prostitute?

Insomnia

Things that keep me awake at night:

• My eldest daughter seems to be resisting the part of college where she actually attends class. I also know what her bank account looks like (I co-signed her lease). She has an overly active social life. Need I say more? My spidey sense is tingling.

• Is the SaaS business model going to remain an unproven theory for, like, ever?

• Will the cost of my son's future dental work exceed the cost of his medical bills to date?

• Kaitlyn. Drivers license. Crash helmet.
  

• Oil over 108. Food at double digit inflation. Home equity at... ?
  

• Iraq forever.
  

• Doesn't the weather seem a little strange?

• President Hillary Clinton.

• President John McCain (I can't help but like the old geezer but he's starting to sound like Bush the Lesser, pt 2).

• What are those robo-hairs at my temples made of that they defy my attempts to make them stay brown? Is my hair involved in some kind of covert dye resistance movement? I color the little bastards and two weeks later they're shining through again. What the hell?
  

Keep The Dream Alive!

I had previously pondered whether or not the real intention behind the tax rebates was to enable folks to pay off debt... increasing the liquidity of our financial institutions in the process and improving our overall debt ratio.

Hah!! Stupid me.

Congress passed and Bush signed a stimulus package that will send tax rebates to many families and businesses. But some fear it will come too late — or that people will use the money to save or pay off debt, rather than go on a spending spree that would boost the economy.

Bush gently urged people to do the latter. "When the money reaches the American people, we expect they will use it to boost consumer spending," he said.

So get to it... it's your duty as mindlessly materialistic robo-patriots to buy some cheap Chinese imports. Spend for your country, people! It's part of the Bush doctrine, see? If we all just keep pretending it's a sound economy, it will BE a sound economy.

Monster

I am horrified to see that one of Obama's foreign policy advisers, Samantha Power (by all accounts brilliant), called Hillary a monster... and Obama fired her she resigned over it!!

For telling the truth? What the hell... I call Hillary a monster at least twice a day.

Shame on Obama for letting Power go.

Obama Takes Wyoming

Hillary Clinton's campaign welcomes Wyoming to the list of states that don't matter.

We know caucus states don't count, as well as small states and mid-western states and states starting with the letter "H". I'm waiting to see if Wyoming can claim some kind of exemption to Hillary's rule since it's geographically a large northwestern state that begins with a non-H letter.

I'm sure Tim Russert will enlighten us on MTP.

Acting!

Although I'm learning to appreciate smoke-free restaurants, I loved reading this:

All the world's a stage at some of Minnesota's bars. A new state ban on smoking in restaurants and other nightspots contains an exception for performers in theatrical productions. So some bars are getting around the ban by printing up playbills, encouraging customers to come in costume, and pronouncing them "actors."

The customers are playing right along, merrily puffing away — and sometimes speaking in funny accents and doing a little improvisation, too.

The state Health Department is threatening to bring the curtain down on these sham productions. But for now, it's on with the show.

At The Rock, a hard-rock and heavy-metal bar in suburban St. Paul, the "actors" during "theater night" do little more than sit around, drink, smoke and listen to the earsplitting music.

"They're playing themselves before Oct. 1. You know, before there was a smoking ban," owner Brian Bauman explained. Shaping the words in the air with his hands, like a producer envisioning the marquee, he said: "We call the production, `Before the Ban!'"

Power Unchecked Will Be Power Abused... Always

I wish every American who supported Bush, the Patriot Act, warrentless wiretapping, telco immunity, etc, was on the receiving end of this because -- as we know -- nothing is ever a problem for anyone until it personally becomes a problem for them.

The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

The breach occurred before the FBI enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 to prevent future lapses, FBI Director Robert Mueller said. And it was caused, in part, by banks, telecommunication companies and other private businesses giving the FBI more personal client data than was requested.

Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mueller raised the issue of the FBI's controversial use of so-called national security letters in reference to an upcoming report on the topic by the Justice Department's inspector general.

An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.

Laura Bush For President?

Remember when Clinton said this?

"I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say," she said. "He’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002."

John Aravosis asks:

I'm just trying to figure out how being First Lady or First Gentleman (Sir Dennis Thatcher comes to mind) somehow prepares you for being Commander in Chief of our entire armed forces during war time. No one wants to ask the forbidden question, but since Hillary is now saying, repeatedly, that John McCain has more experience to be president than Barack Obama, maybe it's time that Hillary tell us how Laura Bush is qualified to take the country into war.

On Taking The High Road

People say they don't want mud slinging politicians. They say they don't want Washington insiders. They say they don't want candidates who owe their souls to lobbyists and special interests. They say they want options other than just uber-weathy candidate elites.

They apparently lie.

Obama says he's done taking the high road? I say go for it.

Just Say'in

• Rachel Maddow totally rocks on MSNBC. Actual intelligent, articulate liberals being allowed on the teevee instead of the usual stereotyped strawmen... what a concept!!
  

• What do those poor Ohioans think Clinton is going to do for them? It's almost as pathetic to watch as it was when Romney assured Michiganites that he'd get their jobs back.
  

• Doesn't look like it's going to be a good night for Obama, all but ensuring it's going to be a crappy month for the rest of us with the continued Clinton blah blah blah. Ugh.
  

When Limboobs Attack

Bill Bennet (whose arrogance grates on every fiber of my being) was wondering earlier on CNN if Rush Limbaugh's campaign for Republicans to vote for Clinton in Texas, Ohio, RI, and VT would have an impact tonight. I wondered about that, too, at least in Texas where the split is razor thin.

It's a rather cynical and shitty ploy, if you ask me. There was something of the same in reverse with regard to Dems being urged to vote for Mitt in Michigan and I didn't like that, either. Nothing says "stay home and watch American Idol" like the thought of your primary vote being canceled out by an asshole.

Let's Play Haaahdbaaaah!

I'll give Mr. Haaaaahdbaaaah credit where it's due. Tonight he played a clever little trick on Clintonite Terry McAuliffe.

First, Matthews prompted McAuliffe to rhapsodise passionately about how Florida and Michigan (critical states for Clinton) must - MUST! - be scheduled into the Dem primaries because those voters have a right - A RIGHT! - to vote and, gosh darn it, every vote should be counted in a democracy.

Having established McAuliffe's belief in the sanctity of each and every vote in this democracy, Matthews then slyly asked him if Clinton would bow out of the race if she lost the popular vote or if she'd try to hijack the nomination with the help of the superdelegates. McAuliffe never saw it coming.

Ooops!

Priceless.

When The Bad Guys Get Pre-Emptive

Interesting story on Hamas and Fatah and the US.

After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.

Think, Dammit!'s obsession with unintended consequences continues.

Flames Away

Ah yes... that old familiar scorched earth policy.

Hillary Clinton told reporters that both she and the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain offer the experience to be ready to tackle any crisis facing the country under their watch, but Barack Obama simply offers more rhetoric. "I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say," she said. "He’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002."

TX-OH-VT-RI Eve

I have a bad feeling about tomorrow. It's been nothing but Hillary Hillary Hillary all week... is it too much to want Hillary to lose and then fade quietly away? Not that I want to cheat the good people of Pennsylvania of their chance to cast a deciding vote, of course. But still.

Obamarama in Beaumont

He's funny, too... who knew?

I don't necessarily agree with the cynics who insist he was attempting a "Sister Souljah" moment. He's been a community activist in Chicago for years doing exactly this kind of stumping. I know it's been a long time, people, but I think what we're seeing here is the difference between a politician and a leader.

Personal Business Decisions

This trend is something I've written about before but I still find it somewhat fascinating. Business has long ago ceded any kind of moral obligation to people... so it's an interesting evolution that people are feeling no obligation to business. While I don't advocate walking away from your mortgage, I can certainly understand how one might look coldly at the facts and decide it's the best personal business strategy on the table.

As home prices plummet, growing numbers of borrowers are winding up owing more on their homes than the homes are worth, raising concerns that a new group of homeowners -- those who can afford to pay their mortgages but have decided not to -- are starting to walk away from their homes.

Typically borrowers who turn in their keys are those who have run into financial trouble or need to relocate but can't sell their homes. But mortgage-industry executives and consumer counselors say they are starting to see people who aren't in dire financial straits defaulting on their mortgages because they don't want to pay for properties that have negative equity.

It's a dog eat dog world, man.