Bush Threatening Iran, Russert Interrogating Hillary, No Qwik Fix For Economy

January 14th, 2008 - by: danny

THE MEDIA AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
PENTAGON CHIEF: TIME TO SHUTTER GUANTANAMO
THOSE THREATS AGAINST IRAN

I just love this. I think I am going crazy as our country turns into an asylum..

I have been jumping up and down since 2005 warning of the threats to our economy. I wasn’t alone of course, but the media was looking the other way and critics like myself were dismissed as alarmist. You know what happened then? Last summer, the markets melted down, and the big banks wrote down Billions of dollars from their investments in fraudulent subprime loans. They minimized their “exposure” of course, not admitting the full extent of their complicity in these schemes and scams.

First the issue was minimized, even dismissed. And then it was marginalized as just about housing, and mostly blamed on borrowers. Then the big guns of the Federal Reserve began to cut interest rates and pump billions into to add “liquidity.” Problem solved? Far from it.

And then there were job reports suggesting a turn around until another real jobs report showed a downturn. And then it was Christmas and we were going to all shop our way of this crisis, but we didn’t.

In short, almost everything that was said/reported was deceptive and almost everything that was done was ineffective. As reports surfaced that two million plus American families faced foreclosure, the Treasury Department, with great fanfare, announced a “plan” which so far has just helped only a few HUNDRED families

The media still mostly looked the other way, even as polls showed that voters were more worried about the economy then Iraq. So then our fearless media stopped covering Iraq, accepting Pentagon claims that the surge was working even though more Americans were being killed there then ever. Soon, as the rest of the world reported that the US military was not achieving its goals, there was an escalation of bombing all in the name, of course, of routing Al Qaeda which everyone who knows the situation knows is not a big force in the Iraqi resistance.

Now the President is hinting that troop withdrawals will be canceled and more troops sent to Afghanistan all in the name of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Back home, the recession that they said “might” occur is here, joblessness is up and housing is NOT turning around and the NY Times which in an earlier article admitted it overlooked the subprime crisis, is now saying that it may already be too late to act.

That was quick! First they deny the threat and then they say its too late to act..

The front page of the Times reported on Sunday:

No Quick Fix to Downturn

As leaders in Washington turn their attention to efforts to avert a looming downturn, many economists suggest that it may already be too late to change the course of the economy over the first half of the year, if not longer.

With a wave of negative signs gathering force, economists, policy makers and investors are debating just how much the economy could be damaged in 2008. Huge and complex, the American economy has in recent years been aided by a global web of finance so elaborate that no one seems capable of fully comprehending it. That makes it all but impossible to predict how much the economy can be expected to fall before it stabilizes.

I offer some more reports on economic issues below. My own longer take appears in my e-book Squeezed available from ColdType.net. It’s free to download.

HILLARY HUBRIS

The other big news is the flap over whether Hillary dissed Martin Luther King Jr/.. She’s now saying that the Obama people were disssing her. So now we are debating l964, and still avoiding some of the important things she is beginning to say about the economy. She was on with Tim Russert on Meet the Press which should be renamed the “Tim “I am smarter than all my guests” show.” He is NOT the press!

I thought she did a surprisingly good job of showing how vacuous he is with hisshtick of selective quotes from the past all aimed at provoking a “Gotcha” moment, She challenged him on taking video and quotes out of context. She sidestepped a predictable question about whether she still believes there is a right-wing- conspiracy. I guess she doesn’t want to stir that hornets nest again. She says she’s been “too busy” to think about it.

BET OWNER BLASTS OBAMA

COLUMBIA, S.C. – One of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters said Sunday he was insulted by the characterization by rival Barack Obama’s presidential campaign of her remarks about the civil rights movement.

Bob Johnson, the nation’s first black billionaire and founder of the BET cable television network, said Obama’s campaign had acted dishonestly and had distorted Clinton’s remarks about Martin Luther King Jr.”

Come on Bob. You “insulted?” I doubt it. Give us a break. This whiole issue is as phony as they come – how about bringing real news and history to your viewers. This is a disengenous attack by someone who should be ashamed of how he has squanderd BET’s programming.

And by the way, should a TV channel owner be involved in politics this way.

CLOSE GITMO SAYS US MILITARY CHIEF

GITMO: The hellhole built to terrorize terrorists on occupied portions of Cuba is about to turn six. For years, people all over the world have been protesting against the torture and abuse of detainees, in many cases people charged with no crimes. Many of the so-called “hardened” terrorists stashed there were released after years of incarceration because they were farmers or peasants picked up in Afghanistan by overzealous soldiers who , like cops, who give out tickets to make quotas designed to raise revenue, rounded up suspects who turned out to be totally innocent civilians. The ACLU and the Center For Constitutional Rights have spent years suing the US government to try to extend legal protections to the detainees. The Bush Adminstration avoided and evaded the law and the protests. But now. a day after nation protests were held, a new demand to close this modern Alcatraz is being heard. Check tthis out:

The chief of the U.S. military said Sunday he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been “pretty damaging” to the image of the United States.

“I’d like to see it shut down,” Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October.”

MORE HYPOCRISY IN HIGH PLACES

Note he wants it closed to protect our image, not for humane or legal reasons. Let;’s see what happens now. Meanwhile in Israel. The Prime Minister is now opposing “illegal” settlements. Selfstyled “Legal” settlements are apparently ok.

A DISGRACE – BUT NOT ONLY IN THE SENSE INTENDED.

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday declared it a “disgrace” that dozens of unauthorized West Bank settlements were standing four years after Israel promised to dismantle them, following pointed criiticsm from President Bust who took years to discover their presence. In a meeting with political allies, Olmert used the harsh word “disgrace” to show his determination to implement his obligations under the “road map,” the 2003 plan that serves as the basis for renewed peace negotiations, according to a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN FOR ACTION AGAINST IRAN “BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE: Israel Stressed To Bush That Iran Is A Nuclear ‘Threat’:

By AFP Iran poses a real nuclear threat and Israel made that point clear to US President George W. Bush during his visit this week, an Israeli defence official said Saturday.

Bush Says US, Allies Must Confront Iran

“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip.

William H. White: Preparations For War With Iran?

Why would Bush go to the Mideast now? It is likely he went to nail down commitments from the Israelis and acquiescence from the Saudis prior to a planned attack on Iran.

HAITI – BIRD FLU THREATENS CHICKENS

All of sudden, avian flu is back in the news. I am sure it never went away but just stopped being covered. What a tragedy:

(AP) Eggs, Chicken Grow Scarce in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A ban on poultry imports from the Dominican Republic is causing food shortages in neighboring Haiti, adding to concerns about food prices in this impoverished country.

Haitian officials declared the ban this week after 115 Dominican chickens tested positive for a strain of avian flu that, while not a threat to humans, has forced the killing of millions of chickens in Asia.

Egg prices at the market in Port-au-Prince’s La Saline district jumped 25 percent to more than $3. Long lines snaked around stalls at the outdoor market as buyers and merchants panicked that supplies could soon run out.

“What are we going to do now? This is what I make a living from, this is what I use to send my kids to school,” said Chantal Louisius, who normally sells eggs that her husband buys at the Dominican border and carries back to the Haitian capital about 60 kilometers (35 miles)
away.

Poor Haitians already are struggling with food prices pushed up by the high oil prices and farm damage from last year’s tropical storms.

The News Dissector