Petroblogging: Greed's Oily Residue

Oil and all the woes it has been causing us seem to be ingrained in the collective conscious of America right now. I think the McClatchy news website will need to add a separate section just for oil stories the way things are going. Fighting for oil, crying about the price of gas and abject paranoia about speculative plots are just some of the noise we're getting inundated with lately. These things speak to the power of the petrodollar which leads to my attempt at petroblogging.

There Will Be Blood in Congress
Big Oil and steadily increasing gas prices have created all sorts of problems for the average minivan driver. On the legislative and policy side there are multiple "fixes" being thrown into the mix in Congress. The Dems are thinking of a multi-faceted approach that includes a windfall profits tax on oil companies (this makes no sense), capping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking away tax breaks and cracking down on energy market speculation. A windfall by definition is a one-time increase in profits. The profits Exxon and company are seeing are the normal thing now. So why would a windfall profits tax be applicable in today's situation?

The GOP is looking almost exclusively from the supply side with proposals that call for increased drilling (including in ANWR) and refinery building and the normal emphasis on converting resources to cash. The only proposal that will get widespread support is the cap on the strategic reserve. Politico has a really good run down on the various legislative proposals that are presented in a Factcheck.org fashion.

Is the Gas Tax Holiday Dead?
File this one under Panderer in Chief or When Economists Attack. The McCain/Clinton plan to lower gas prices for the summer driving season using voodoo economics has been fading in popularity, and that's not just my impression. Does it have to do with every economist in the world calling it a bad idea? It seems that the McCain advisers that hatched the plan ignored the cold hard facts of tax incidence theory and went straight for the lame gimmickry of the appeal of a tax holiday. Hillary of course glommed on to the gas tax holiday looking for anyway to get an edge on Obama. Now that she is all but cooked in the race for the nomination, her support of a holiday from gasoline reality doesn't mean much. Enough rational introspection from the media and even average citizens has appeared to relegate this one to the silly season column.

Bush Off to Visit His Saudi Overlords
While we are left to guess what the price at the Circle K station will hit tomorrow the Prez heads off to the Middle East to survey the damage of seven years of failed foreign policy. Every Bush or Cheney Mid East trip of course ends with the requisite stop in Saudi Arabia to engage in royal ass kissing. maybe this trip will be different. It would be nice to see someone going to bat for us and maybe ask the Saudis to increase oil production. Is it possible that W. will threaten to pull out of Iraq and let the crazy Iranians increase their influence even more? Will King Abdullah be scared shitless about growing Shia influence in the region stirring up unrest amongst the population of Shias that inhabit the oil rich eastern part of his kingdom? Maybe the King will choose to hold hands with W. and buy his allegiance with another shiny sword.

It's Not a Bubble
Professor Krugman takes the speculation on speculation to task in yesterday's NYT column. The theory that energy speculators are behind the rapid increase in oil and gas prices has taken hold recently and for good reason. The guys making all of the money on the oil boon are the ones closely connected to the markets and traders that seemingly create the frenzy that is pushing up the price of oil. Krugman refutes this notion with sound economic reasoning. His contention is that speculation requires hoarding of supply to be effective and currently the supplies of oil are at normal or below average levels. Sorry, the oil companies are easy to hate but our dilemma is driven by good ol' supply and demand principles. If we could only get that Iraq occupation thing to work maybe the price would go down.

We're Americans and we ain't drivin' 55 or taking the damn bus to work.

SCO Will Rule on Residency Law

I'm a few days behind on this one but I couldn't pass up on the post. The Ohio Supreme Court will weigh in on municipal residency requirements by ruling on the state law that was created to prohibit them. The court will review two of the past cases one of which the city of Akron's case. From Wednesday's GONGWER report:

City Residency: Separately, the court unanimously agreed to decide the constitutionality of a state law that prohibits municipalities from requiring any of their workers, as a condition of employment, to reside within city limits.

Justices accepted appeals involving the cities of Lima and Akron, and said they would hear oral arguments in both cases on the same day. At the same time, the court rejected Akron's motion to consolidate its case with the one from Lima.

The 3^rd District Court of Appeals struck down the state residency law (SB82, 126^th General Assembly) in a December 2007 case involving Lima.

Earlier this year, the 9^th District followed suit in a decision that also lets cities continue to impose residency requirements on employees. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, February 26, 2008).

Last month, the 6^th District became the third appeals court to rule that municipalities may require their police, fire and other employees to reside within city limits, notwithstanding the new state lawto the contrary.

The 6^th District panel said in a 2-1 opinion that the state law prohibiting residency requirements was "an obvious attempt to circumvent constitutional municipal home rule authority."

I don't have a sense how the court leans when it comes to that thingy in the state constitution called home rule. I do have a notion that they are somwhat supportive of police and fire union interests. I know residency laws have held up in the previous court rulings but past performance is no indicator of future earnings when it comes to Ohio's top court.

Demon Inflation

One thing the Pizza Riots of 2008 made clear is that times are tough. Crowds standing in line for hours for a 23 cent pizza demonstrates the squeeze rising food prices are having on ordinary people. It may also be that they are just suckers for a promotion.

Anyway the crunch at the grocery store and the gas pump and elsewhere is indicative of the strains inflation is placing on middle and working class folks. There seems to be a disconnect though between the pinch consumers are feeling and the haughty economic indicators that are released periodically. Despite the constant talk of recession and stimulus plans inflationary stress as divined from CPI and GDP doesn't appear to be echoing the hard facts we see on the ground. It has always seemed out of place that food and fuel prices are excluded from CPI when we are paying record prices at the pump and at the grocery store. The official definition of a recession has been described as two consecutive quarterly drops in GDP but that indicator actually increased by 0.6% at last release. So what is really going on?

The numbers are all based on lies is one answer being offered up. According to Kevin Phillips in an article published in this month's Harper's the CPI and other mainstream economic indicators are a numbers racket. In his piece titled Why the Economy Is Worse Than We Know Phillips puts forth a convincing case for what he terms the "Opacity" crisis in America. Basically over the past two decades the goal posts have been moved to make these key indicators more palatable for investors in the U.S dollar. The actual numbers if based on prior methods would look much more grim today:

The real numbers, to most economically minded Americans, would be a face full of cold water. Based on the criteria in place a quarter century ago, today's U.S. unemployment rate is somewhere between 9 percent and 12 percent; the inflation rate is as high as 7 or even 10 percent; economic growth since the recession of 2001 has been mediocre, despite a huge surge in the wealth and incomes of the superrich, and we are falling back into recession.

There hasn' t been a lot scary talk on inflation because it's kind of been swept under the rug. To the average person it's much more pervasive than the rigged numbers we keep seeing each month. The article is meant to serve as primer to his latest book, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism. The title sounds kind of gloomy but I think it will be worth the read. The notion that our economic system and method of wealth creation is built on a house of cards is more apparent now than it has been in years.

Lest You Think I'm That Popular

My Site Meter reporting has shown a spike in views the past week. If one were to see this activity they may be lead to believe that the 260 views of BCR today were a sign of interest in what I have to write. Not Really.

What this blog is experiencing is like something out of a chapter of the Long Tail or The Wisdom of Crowds. Give people all the content that's out there and a good filter (Google) to find it and then look out.

Here's the story. I ran a post back in January titled "Where's My Stimulus Check" that outlined the progress of the economic stimulus plan as it wound its way through Congress. The title was a harmless poke at the impatience of the average citizen waiting around for the gov'ment to send out their damn check. Fast forward to last week when the actual checks started going out and now you see what's on peoples' minds - money. The links to BCR through Google searches are driving the links to the blog. Basically all those searches using the same phrase as the post title get referred to this humble little blog. I unintentionally Google bombed myself. I'm willing to rent out space in the side bar to those of you looking for exposure.

Marc Danngate: Crisis or Opportunity?

Ahhh nothing gets the attention of voters like a sex scandal. It looks like State AG Marc Dann has delivered one that comes with all of the requisite details that are needed to titillate (pun intended) those of us who are paying attention. The story of an elected official who likes to crusade against the machine during the day and party with his staff at night was a sure winner.

I gathered that Dann has always had detractors on both sides of the political isle and the steady stream of condemnations has shown that to be the case. They even penned this very important letter asking him to resign before he upsets the delicate balance the Dems have managed to maintain in statewide offices. I don't think anyone has defended the guy in the least but what would you expect from a state full of puritan wannabes. No, I'm not excusing his actions and yes I do think he has damaged the office of Attorney General and should step down. I think it should be done soon and a plan such as the one mentioned by Pho on Friday has legs. The sooner Dann is out and a new electable name is in all the better to salvage the office. It's the political equivalent of calling in the Wolf. The faster we put this behind us the faster we can stop giving sanctimonious republicans like the red gobbler-necked Bob Bennet a soap box to stand on.

One more thing I should mention. Marc Dann has garnered the moniker the "accidental AG" because he was a long shot to win the race against a better known opponent. That person was Betty Montgomery a one-time AG herself and State Auditor at the time of the election. Remember that Dann used her connection with Tom Noe to cast her in negative light and ride that negative tide against the Taft adminstration into office. This was the same Betty Montgomery that was the chief fiscal officer of the State and yet claimed to have no knowledge of an impending financial scandal of epic proportions at the Bureau of Worker's Comp. So maybe Dann winning the 2006 election wasn't all accident for some discerning voters. Let's make this right and deny the republican party an accidental way back into the AG's office.

Residency Requirements Off Life Support For Now

Local residency requirements have officially been upgraded from critical to guarded condition.  As I posted here in February the reports of the death of local ordinances requiring municipal employees to live within city limits was a bit premature.  Now a third Ohio appellate court has weighed in on residency requirements and affirmed the two previous rulings in favor of cities with such requirements.  Not only is the health of residency requirements looking up for now but his friend home rule is feeling better these days.  The report from GONGWER offers this snippet:

The 6th District Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 opinion that a new state statute prohibiting such residency requirements was "an obvious attempt to circumvent constitutional municipal home rule authority."

The main opposition to residency requirements has come from police and fire unions who state that an undue hardship is placed upon their members.  These groups assert the residency restriction limits the options of housing and other quality of life choices that inevitably lie in the greener grass just on the other side of the city limits.   Now I have worked for a large metro that had a residency requirement and didn't mind it at all.  In fact I was informed of the requirement prior to excepting the job there.  Are the safety forces contending that there has been some deception on the part of muni's that maintain residency rules?    In writing the lead opinion Judge Thomas Osowik offered this somewhat right wing-ish statement:

"Terms and conditions of employment and the choice of whether to accept employment with certain terms and conditions are inherent in all employment decisions in a free market economy,"

Seriously, is it that bad to have to live in a city whose citizens depend on police, fire and EMS personnel to maintain the collective health and safety of the community?   If you prefer not to live in Akron or Cleveland y then you have the right to work for a city that doesn't have a residency requirement don't you?   There are currently two potential cases, including the City of Akron case, that could be heard by the SCO so the final judgement has yet to be rendered.

Akron METRO Sales Tax Follow Up

Akron METRO was able to get a quarter percent sales tax increase passed in March. All that is left for the regional transit authority is sit back and watch the money roll in. The tax will provide METRO with approximately $18 million in additional revenue and that may be about $17 million more than METRO currently needs to stay afloat.

Since sales tax is also a meat and potatoes revenue source for county government the movement of such a large chunk to METRO is making some of the financial types at Summit County uneasy. Tough times over the horizon makes for creative solutions to manage fiscal hardship. That is why Summit County will be suggesting that the new found wealth be shared. In what may be called de facto regionalism the County is going to be aggressively searching for ways to have METRO to invest that extra revenue into economic development projects that could perhaps benefit the region and spare county coffers. This is of course all contingent on being able to pry the cash from METROs cold dead hand.

If the county is successful maybe they can set their sites on freeing up some of those tax dollars from MRDD and the Summit ADMH boards.

A Plus Up for Petraeus

General Petraeus always the loyal soldier will be taking over Central Command later this year. With General Ray Odierno moving up from number two take the reigns in Iraq the "smash brothers" will have complete control of the Middle East Theater. Obviously the appointments signal the administration's intent to change absolutely nothing in Iraq but, that shouldn't come as a surprise.

In terms of U.S policy toward Iran this can only mean a greater chance of some military intervention in the near term. It has been said in some media outlets that the current CentCom chief Admiral Fallon was standing in the way of escalating the conflict with Iran. With Fallon out of the picture and the potential for a President McCain (I cringe) to be in charge in early 2009 the outlook for more war looks great.

As for Iraq, country is is great hands. With Odierno in charge the number of cordon and search missions will probably hit all time highs. This guy has a history of being a relentless hard-ass and at times his tactics haven't meshed the counterinsurgency plans. This From yesterday's McClatchy report:

Many believe that Odierno, the III Corps commander in Fort Hood,
Texas, redeemed himself during his stint as the No. 2 commander in Iraq
last year. He came to the post under a cloud of controversy after some
charged that his strong-arm approach to warfare lacked the nuance that
counterinsurgency required.

Indeed, in his previous post as the
commander of U.S. troops in northern Iraq, he called for aggressive
tactics against the insurgency, at times inflaming tensions between
U.S. troops and Iraqis.

Petraeus will most likely be too busy running for vice president to play good cop to Odierno. Eventually in Iraq the money and guns won't be enough to keep the Sunni militias in line and Odierno will have to resort to more bad cop policies to pacify any unrest. All the more reason taking on Iran at the same time is not a good idea.

Dimora's Ameritrust Anxiety Comes Out

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora's outburst (no,rant) at Thursday's BOCC meeting was actually a primal release of pent up anxiety. The two PD reporters, Mark Puente and Henry J. Gomez, that had been "hounding" the Commish about what was basically a patronage hire got more than they bargained for. You see Dimora himself said he's been in the business thirty years. The man has seen his share of patronage hires that have failed the smell test. A seasoned politico like Dimora doesn't get his giant panties in a bunch over questions on a single patronage hire.

What the Commissioner is actually suffering from is Ameritrust Building Anxiety. The press didn't do much with this story until last year, almost two years after its inception. The flood gates finally opened and the backlash against the mishandling of the project and questionable contracting has been mounting ever since. Even though the Board has come to terms to sell the building and get out of the project it is not doing so unscathed. The County and taxpayers will still have to eat several million (like around 10) asbestos laden dollars after the building is unloaded to a private developer. Even when they find a way out their problems don't go away.

The County faced with an aging portfolio of buildings still has to come up with a plan to either consolidate into one site or address the large capital costs of maintaining the existing sites. The last three years have essentially been wasted with the failed attempt to make the Ameritrust site work out as planned. The County is now back to square one and has already burned a lot of time, money and good will with nothing to show.

Is Joe Lieberman a Maoist?

Obama is not a Marxist. I couldn't say if Joe is or isn't a Maoist. It's certainly something that could be looked into further. I mean Marxism and Maoism are equally prevalent in today's society aren't they?

Joe's good friend John McCain is certainly not a Marxist. He just proposed relinquishing even more fiscal responsibility through more tax cuts. This time its the federal gasoline tax that is holding us back. How about we triple the gas tax and use the money to pay for your pet project in Iraq?

Proxy War Not Going Well Either

The regular war in Iraq is bad enough now we have to worry about some proxy war. According to the administration, specifically Ambassador Ryan Crocker the U.S is also engaged in proxy war with Iran. In an interview Friday Crocker lamented Iran's role in screwing up the path to a stable Iraq and meddling in Iraqi affairs. The problems in Iraq apparently aren't all related to the U.S. occupation. Iran's support of Shiite militias is a major point of contention for the U.S. As reported in the Sunday New York Times Crocker directly called out the Iranian interference in the interview:

While Bush administration officials have long denounced what they have
described as Iran’s meddling in Iraq, Mr. Crocker’s language was
unusually strong, reflecting fresh concern about what he described in
Congressional testimony this week as Iran’s role in supplying militias
with training and weapons, including rockets used in recent attacks on
the Green Zone, in Baghdad.

Although he claimed the U.S. is not engaging in an proxy type involvement against Iran. That seems to contradict the piles of cash and weapons we have been providing the Sunni groups in Al Anbar. Those groups would be a hedge against overt Iranian and Shiite influence in Iraq once th U.S. begins to decrease it's presence there. So this would serve as a proxy to Iran's proxy, I guess. While Iran is meddling in everyones business in the Middle East none of our allies inte region are lending much of hand, Crocker's complaints again from the Times article:

During the interview, Mr. Crocker accused Iran of meddling in
Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza, in addition to Iraq. He also faulted
Iraq’s Arab neighbors for refusing to help, noting that a promised
Saudi Arabian Embassy had yet to materialize.

Maybe the U.S. should consider engaging Iran in a proxy nature and get our so called Sunni allies like Saudi Arabia to get of there asses and spend some petrodollars on staunching Iran's influence in their own backyard. Doing nothing to even the score while the oil producing fat cats sit around and watch is no way to run a proxy war.

Tommy Franks Was Right

Another one of the architects of the Iraq invasion has been making the rounds with the latest book full of excuses. Straight from the "where are the war architects" file comes Douglas Feith. If you know the narrative of how we got into the biggest foreign policy mess ever then Feith's name is a familiar one. He was most recently on the Diane Rehm Show this past Thursday. I've been trying not to hear any of the lame-ass garbage Feith has been pawning off to respected media outlets like 60 minutes but I gave in and listened to the whole one hour segment.

Surprisingly or maybe not Feith has been pushing the idea that the real blame for what went wrong lies with Colin Powell. What I gathered from the interview is that He thinks Powell should have done more to stop the civilian war planners from going ahead with the invasion. To further his point Feith basically stated to Rehm during the interview that if then Secretary of State Powell had a better plan he didn't let on. I come away with this summary. Rumsfeld, Feith, Wolofwitz and the other neocons used bizarro world logic to set off an ill-conceived and ill-planned invasion of Iraq. Colin Powell is to blame because it was up to him to stop them because they didn't know any better. There is a mountain of evidence out there that says they wouldn't have listened anyway.

Feith asserts that his account is based on the record and that's what gives his book real juice. Feith also boasts that the planning was a collaborative effort in which all points of view were entertained. You don't have to go any further than the pages of the book Fiasco by Tom Ricks to see how Feith's "on the record" account contrasts starkly with what actually happened. In the chapter of Fiasco titled "The Run Up", Ricks covers how the lack of attention to objective input from other sources soured the war planning. There were two very large scale and comprehensive reports created by dozens of security experts, military planners and Mideast scholars. Both of these studies where ignored by Feith's office. Ricks summarizes this phenomenon in his book:

"What is remarkable is that again and again during the crucial months before the invasion, such warnings from experts went unheeded-or even unwelcome. Almost no Middle Eastern experts inside the military were consulted on the war plan, in part because the plan was produced on a very close hold basis that involved few people , and even then only parts of it were shown to most of those involved."

Despite the non-attentiveness to the counsel of all of these experts Feith still defends one of the
biggest blunders of the occupation, disbanding the Iraqi army. He claims in his "on the record" version of events that military planners agreed with this decision. The historic facts recounted in Fiasco point to military experts stressing that the Iraqi army not be disbanded. In December of 2002 a report produced by military experts at the Pentagon (a third report in as many months) stated unequivocally the error of folding the Iraqi army after the invasion:

"...To tear apart the army in the war's aftermath could lead to the
destruction of one the only forces of unity within the society."

Feith's claim that the Iraqi army was already broken and had to be rebuilt clearly contradicted the advice being given at the time of the run upto the war. This is just one major example of the incompetent way Feith's office handled the planning and execution of the invasion and
subsequent occupation of Iraq. In the end it was the incompetence from key war planners like Feith that lead to the abysmal failures that have morphed into the never ending disaster that is the occupation of Iraq. General Tommy Franks is quoted in Fiasco as summing up Feith's level of competence with this morsel, "the dumbest fucking guy on the planet". I don't know if I'd go that far but he has a point.

Feith's book smells like pure revisionist crap if you ask me. The only good that may come out of his new book is that he plans to donate all the proceeds to charity. I think a charity that supports the families of fallen Iraq war veterans would be a good start.

Praying For Rain In Northern France

What's better than bikes racing on ancient sections of cobblestone roads in the Ardenne? Bikes racing on wet and muddy sections of cobblestone roads. Paris Roubaix also known as the "Hell of the North" is this Sunday and the riders are expected to be met with rains and wind. This a good thing if you are watching the race and not riding in it. The past few years the peleton has been spared from the brutal wet and cold conditions that normally claim tires, forks, handlebars and the occasional face. I think this could be big George Hincapie's year if he can stay upright, this may be his last chance to claim a victory here.

The Petraeus Take Away

We're not going anywhere anytime soon. General Petraeus made that abundantly clear with this automated response at today's hearing as transcribed by the Washintgon Post:

At the end of that period, he said, he has recommended starting "a
process of assessment to examine the conditions on the ground and, over
time, determine when we can make recommendations for further
reductions." He strongly counseled against setting any deadlines for
withdrawal.

I called Central Command Headquarters and they have this message playing on the answering machine so they got the memo. Maybe we'll know more in December.

Petraeus is Coming! Petraeus is Coming!

Another six months and another status report from the king of the surge. General Petraeus makes his way to Capital Hill tomorrow to give his latest assessment of the conditions in Iraq. I can't imagine anything new is going to be divulged by either the general or U.S. ambassador to the fortified Green Zone, Ryan Crocker.

General Petraeus has already gone on record as saying not enough political progress has been made by the Iraqi government. I almost wanted to throw in the adjective nascent before the words Iraqi government but by now the new car smell has worn off. That statement made a couple of weeks ago will probably be fodder for inquiring minds at the Congressional hearing and should elicit some tough questioning. I'm sure Petraeus and Crocker will be ready for the onslaught and will repel any suggestions that all is not well with healthy doses of "surge must be given more time to work" medicine. American's will once again be told that we need to stay in Iraq even if it means sacrificing more lives and resources for a failed policy.

The real success of surge has been its ability to buy more time on the political front for the administration. Tomorrow's performances are intended to extend the deployment beyond the election and pass it off to the next commander in chief. I know it's a cynical outlook but god dammit can you blame me?

Job Losses Bad News For NEO

The latest round of bad economic news arrived this week in the form of more job losses. If that isn't enough to bum you out then the impact of the downturn in NE Ohio will. George Zeller from the Center for Community Solutions spells out out the impending hard times for NEO in his latest information release:

In Ohio, our year over year job growth has been a loss for the last
12 consecutive months. It is likely that we will see the same in the
March 2008 figures when we get them on April 18.

Of course, we have no evidence at all that Ohio or Cuyahoga County
ever recovered at all from the 2000s recession. Thus, the new federal
figures today for the whole country are not a good sign for us
locally. We have now gone more than one quarter with job losses in
the USA. In another two months, unless job growth resumes, we will
have two quarters of national job losses. Even then, until the
Conference Board sees two negative quarters of GDP, they probably
will not declare an official recession. But, there is obvious
significant weakness in the national economy right now, and that is
very likely to spill over into our local situation.

Therefore, despite a lack of a local component in today's new
figures, the national employment figures are discouraging for us in
Ohio and in Cuyahoga County.

Zeller has had the unfortunate role of chronicling our economic woes. As he mentions we are already vulnerable due to the lack of a true recovery from the previous recession. The take away here is that the ebb and flow of the Dow Jones Index and Fed bailouts are only a small portion of the economic picture. These latest indicators point to adeep and troubling times for NE Ohioans.

The Lessons of Basra

The dust is finally starting to settle in Basra after last week's ill fated offensive by the Iraqi government and their U.S. handlers. The amount of devastation and carnage resulting from the uprising or whatever that was is a harsh reality check on the state of our deployment in Iraq. As usual McClatchy has been on point with its coverage of the situation on the ground. The plan to de-surge or stand down (because they have to stand up) has hit a new snag.

As part of its post-surge plan, the Pentagon planned to reduce troop levels by one brigade a month, thin out its presence in Iraq and lean more heavily on Iraqi forces. But the Basra offensive has some in the U.S. military fretting that Iraq's forces, while better than they were six months ago, cannot fully defend their communities.

An unintended consequence of the surge has been the reliance on bottom up self governance to claim reconciliation has been occurring. As an example the Sunni awakening and relative calmness in the Kurdish north has been sited by surge fans as proof of its success. Not too quick. What has been visited upon Iraqis this week in the form of a proto-civil war is this lesson: correlation is not causation. Didn't the event of the past week demonstrate that the cease fire issued by Sadr was the real reason behind the success of the surge? The Maliki offensive turned into a clash between central governance (the original plan) and local power centers like militias. The top down approach didn't fair too well.

Relying on local players to maintain stability gave the surge an appearance of success. The problem is that this stability was proven to be a mirage once the interests of Sadrists no longer lined up with the central government. When the decision was made to break that calm, whoever is to blame is almost irrelevant, the stability evaporated and fighting erupted. When the Iraqi forces were not enough to quell the Shia fighters the U.S. forces had no choice but to "Fallujahize" the city with air strikes and artillery. The after effects of that offensive are turning the residents of the once somewhat allied south into haters. Another piece from McClatchy details the carnage resulting from the air strikes and the collective dismay of Iraqi hearts and minds being lost. It seems that the surge is approaching the end of its shelf life before the stated goals were ever realized.

Flush Your Free Lunch Down the Toilet

Mayor Plusquellic's Sewers for College plan has evolved into a lease of the Akron sewer system rather than sale. After looking at other lease deals on infrastructure around the Country the original plan to sell the system outright has been modified to be a lease deal. Leases comes with the same caveats as sales. The system would almost certainly be leased by a foreign entity and that foreign corporation would have to raise user fees in due time to cover operations. A spokesperson from one firm is quoted in today's ABJ article:

''Generally, it means more efficient operations and lower-cost pricing,
even taking into account profit for dividends and reinvestment into the
system,'' Henning said. ''It also means that customers are paying 'real
cost' pricing, rather than a subsidized price based off the use of
government bonds to finance infrastructure improvements.''

You see public works are actually subsidized because capital improvements are financed with government issued bonds. Oh wait a minute, I thought local governments pay debt service with revenue collected from user fees and taxes. So the subsidy actually flows from citizens that use the infrastrucure. We are subsidizing ourselves, that has to stop.

Call it a lease, a sale, creative financing, it's all the same. Privatization will come with more costs in the form of increased fees. This deal can't create money out of thin air and fund universal college scholarships at the same time.

A Bold Move Towards Regionalism

The City of Akron and Summit County Governments are about to sample the much talked about but seldom visited waters of regionalism. Akron and Summit our planning a trial by fire approach to merging the administration of safety forces. The ABJ explains how the new chain of command will report to County Sheriff Drew Alexander:

Larry Givens, the retired Akron Police Chief, was introduced as Plusquellic's new deputy mayor of public safety. Givens will report to Alexander and the two will now be at the top of Akron police department's chain of command, Plusquellic said.

There are several positive aspects of this prposed arrangement. The first of which is that it sign proactive move in the direction of combining a city and county government in real life. It's not just topic for MPA students to write papers on. Carving out one of the core services for this first phase gives the move some credibility and potential to have a real impact. In theory the plan is supposed to achieve efficiencies and save money without stripping the APD of its autonomy which is important for buy in. It's been two or three years since the Fund for Our Economic Future started pushing for transformational change in our framework of governance and this move may be a result of that proect.

Mayor Plusquellic is also a winner here. He claims a new creative idea to tout to constituents and this one makes sense. Merging government services good, private sewer systems bad.

Crossover Voting Meet Overwhelming Force

The prospects of crossover voting amounting to anything more than a pet project of Rush Limbaugh and his merry band of dittoheads are slim and none. Of course loud mouth righty blowhards get the adulation of an intellectually immature fan base poised to move when called upon. The thought of steering the election to a favorable match up for November is in the same category as the bumper sticker pablum they ingest daily.

There as been a good deal of press on the GOP crossovers in the Ohio primary election and Cuyahoga County in particular. The Columbus Dispatch released an analysis of crossover voting and found a sizable number of GOP superfans crossed over to the tune of over 20,000 voters. The intent of course was to cast votes for Clinton and keep her campaign alive thus throwing the race into turmoil. Of course the democratic race didn't need an help with that and the crossover voting didn't really alter overall course of the election. In politically savvy move SOS Jennifer Brunner has cast aside any ideas of prosecuting crossover voting in an interview with the Cleveland PD:

"I would be very hesitant to move forward in a criminal investigation," Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said before giving a speech at John Carroll University. "At what point are you going to start getting into censorship?"

Basically let the cretins have some fun it can't stop the inevitable defeat the GOP will be suffering in the general election, or so we hope. Still the Cuyahoga BOE is pursuing a investigation of crossovers in the County. This "quixotic effort" as described by County Prosecutor Civil Division chief Dave Lambert, will go nowhere fast once it hits the inevitable party line vote.

I've said it before, winning this election will have to be done using the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force. The GOP attack dogs are going to use voter suppression, caging and other dirty tricks to sway this election. The appropriate defense to this crap is to bring the full force of progressive ideas and a strong candidate to the electorate. An unstoppable wave of D(d)emocratic voters that will wipe out the effects of any GOP nonsense.

Caging, Voting's Dirty Little Secret

The practice fo voter caging is finally getting some attention from Congress. Politico has an article covering the efforts of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to introduce legislation limiting the practice. Supporters of the bill claim rightly, that the practice of challenging the addresses of large swathes of registered voters discourages college students and younger voters from voting.

In NE Ohio we have had are share of this tactic. In the case of the 2004 election the GOP cadres submitted mass requests to verify voters addresses in Cuyahoga and Summit County. The requests targeted minority voters in low income neighborhoods not college students. This was a perfectly devious compliment to the voter challenges at the polls that also targeted this demographic. Nothing like the white mayor of rich Westlake challenging black voters in poor East Cleveland.

Limiting the practice at the federal level makes sense. They already have something called the Voting Rights Act I think. Still you will always have some critics of measures that encourage people to vote. In a wonderful coincidence one of the potential critics on the Senate Judiciary Comm. is Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT). A different man but same name as beloved Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett who coordinated the voter suppression efforts in 2004.

Five Years of Lies

"When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth."

Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner


The war in Iraq was built on lies and false bravado. From the tales of errant WMD to the not so subtle conflating of Saddam and the terror of September 11th. The mission accomplished moments, last throes, fight them there and surge is working chicanery have had five years to obscure the truth of what has happened in Iraq. Any meaningful debate on Iraq policy must be navigated around the detritus of talking points and bumper sticker schlock. Almost every pronouncement from the administration on progress must be interpreted with either skepticism or outright disbelief. Awakening counsels are really the result of bribing one side of a future civil war. The the reconstruction of a country into an economic success has morphed into a failed free market laboratory. The spread of democracy in the Middle East has been revealed as an entreaty to ethnic cleansing, torture and has created a new class of diaspora left to flee the calamity as means of survival.

The lies that this war are built on have damned this country, its leaders, and its citizens to an endless feedback loop of suffering and human wreckage. The American attention span for the never ending and costly occupation of Iraq has continued to shrink. The lack of thirst for information or demand for the truth and accountability are acts of complicity in creating the lies that have sustained this war.

Now the next champion of this misadventure has grabbed the baton and kept marching forward with the same talking points and disrespect for the truth. John McCain is already finding convenient ways to falsely conflate Al Queda and Iran and then retracts the words as alleged gaffes. He is proudly proclaiming that we only have two options, continue on this reckless path or surrender to the forces of evil. Never mind the folly that led us to war in Iraq is the reason for the instability. There is no gray or in between even though the complexity of the mess we have created can't be mitigated with absolutes. Our right to the truth was stolen long ago. Until we get it back this trip through the hellish confines of this period our history will never end.

The Cost of Floyd

The former winner fo the 2006 Tour De France has one more fight left in him and he's not letting money get in the way. Floyd Landis makes one last ditch effort to save his bad reputation starting today. Not taking the decision by USADA to uphold his positive doping test seriously Landis now goes to the Court of Arbitration of Sport. This time around promises to be another rehash of the previous findings. Floyd's people will again plead why the test administered to Floyd after an unprecedented comeback in stage 16 of the 2006 TDF must have been wrong. Floyd will rant like a paranoid delusional about the French lab that bothcedhis test and the dark secrets of Greg Lemond's childhood.

None of the time and money spent presenting an alternative to what actually happened will change the outcome. UCI cycling is already hurting from more doping scandals like Puerta and last year's tour. This latest round in the Floyd chronicles is just one more reminder of the hubis tearing down a great sport.

McCain Already Opting for Public Funds

John McCain hit the dusty ground of Iraq running by conducting a "fact finding" mission Sunday. This trip didn't appear to have the exorbitant security trappings of his last junket but had the regular hoopla. On the fact finding agenda were meetings with St. Petreaus and Iraqi leaders including his honor president Nouri al Maliki. Just to blur any line between fact finder and campaign stop McCain had Senate colleagues and stalwart Iraq enthusiasts Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham in tow.

The punditry has been keen to point out McCain's advantage over his rival Dem challengers. While Obama and Clinton continue to drag out the nomination process McCain can start assuming a presidential aura and visit important people and kiss important general asses. It's a really smart strategy I'll admit. I'm guessing a sliver of voters have assumed that a transition already took place and he's the new president.

I hope someone at the Federal Elections Commission is paying attention. This trip was clearly a campaign stop at the expense of taxpayers. If the Straight Talk Express is going to opt in for a public campaign funds that's great, he has been a champion of campaign reform right?

McCain just started running a tab barkeep, don't forget to settle before the General Election is over.

Cheney was also in Iraq today. He snarled something about last throes or phenomenal progress. I don't know does anyone even care?

JP Morgan Takes Out the Trash

How bad is the outlook in the financial markets? If the fall of the great Wall St. powerhouse Bear Stearns is any indication then it's bad. More than Jim Kramer ranting bad.

JP Morgan Chase agreed to buy the beleaguered Bear Stearns today for the insane and even troubling low price of $2 per share. That blows my mind. Bear Stearns a mainstay financial giant was brought to its knees from the corrosive (explosive) impact of the credit woes stemming from the sub prime mess. The fact that JP Morgan was able to snatch them up for almost free ($236 million total price) is telling to how done Bear Stearns was. Even the unprecedented offer from the Fed to accept mortgage derivative securities as collateral for securing much needed liquidity couldn't save Bear from the Bear market.

Another gauge of the magnitude of this downturn is the type of victims it has claimed. The tech bust of the 2000 era killed off a lot of crazy IT and web concoctions that had no business plans and no way to make any money. I mean come on man Loudcloud was no Citigroup. The whirlwind we are reaping now is going right after the heart of the financial system and that's what makes this particular turmoil rather frightening.

Three Cheers For the Fourth Amendment

My persons, houses, papers and effects are rejoicing over the House passage of the correct FISA bill today. The Dems finally got it together and crammed a bill without telco immunity through a successful vote.

Thanks for taking all kinds of crap from presidential apologists and fear mongering cretins Speaker Pelosi. The secret session last night was the last antic in the b-s arsenal and when that revealed nothing new, the votes were still there. Thanks for pulling together a large enough coalition to get the needed votes in the face of faltering moderates. Enough of the Blue Dogs shed their yellow coats to do the right thing. Take a stand for the Constitution that the Bizarro World "strict constructionist" judge loving goofballs on the right have been trying to deconstruct one piece at a time.

Don't Blame It on Björk

As the protests and unrest continue on the streets of Lhasa, Tibet news watchers are preparing for the the inevitable crackdown from the Chinese government. It's hard to say whether or not the response from the Chinese will be more subdued due to the attention being lavished on the Olympic games host country. A bloody suppression of Buddhist monks may discourage McDonald's and Walmart from spending more on advertising during the Olympics telecast.

A China under the spotlight might be enough to give the Tibetan protesters reason to take on their Chinese overlords for the first time in two decades. Maybe that perceived heightened awareness that the world is watching China gives the Tibetans just enough motivation to take up the challenge again. Surely a government preparing to host people from all over the planet would not want to squander it's benevolent image over some street protests. I also think what we are seeing in Tibet is the leading edge of a movement that was triggered partially from the events in Kosovo where a long fought quest for independence was unilaterally declared by Kosovars and then recognized by the U.S and other Western democracies.

Maybe, just maybe the recent antics of Icelandic pop-star Björk during a performance in Shaghai were the final rallying cry needed for this latest movement in Tibet to coalesce. Let's hope there are democratic governments willing to take a stand for reforms in Tibet and remind the China of the 21st century this in not 1950.

Today's Paranoid Rant

The American public is easily swayed into following stories with broad sweeping themes especially when it involves high profile public officials caught up in sex stings. The news cycle has been completely consumed by the Eliot Spizter Hookergate drama and there is no sign that it's losing grip on viewers. The next phase of coverage has naturally turned to the details of the woman for hire in question. I think CNN had her MySpace page up earlier this evening, no kidding.

This leads me to today's paranoid rant. I think there have been multiple occasions of the Bush administration using the news cycle to control the release of good and bad news. The recent events demonstrate the latter. Maybe its the soon to be released report refuting (again) the Saddam Al Queda link or the Commander of Central Command resigning in a apparent protest. Here is an imagined phone call that I think took place last week.

A phone rings somewhere in the Department of Justice...

DOJ Official: Hello DOJ office of Vice and Virtue.

SecDef Gates: Hey this is Robert Gates, you know the guy who took over for Rummy at DOD.

DOJ Official: What can I do for you Mr. Secretary?

SecDef Gates: Well we need to work the news cycle next week. You know get people to look the other way so we can release another one of these darn Iraq reports.

DOJ Official: Oh yeah what's this one about?

SecDef Gates: Doesn't matter, none of them vindicate this crappy policy I've been shouldered with. I'll ask the questions here anyhow. Is there any high profile investigation that you could throw out there early next week? You know something juicy that will really catch the publics' eye?

DOJ Official: We have something really big but we were going to wait to go public with it. You know until the whole thing's a slam dunk so to speak.

SecDef Gates: Hey man your president needs you. Give it up.

DOJ Official: Alright it involves the Democratic governor of New York and a prostitution ring, a really high priced whore house.

SecDef Gates: Oh I see. That will have to do. Can you get it out by Monday?

DOJ Official: I think so. We were able harvest a great deal of evidence using that improved wiretapping capability. Lots of communications involving sex for hire and the like. Should catch fire in the media no problem.

SecDef Gates: Yeah Terrorist Surveillance Program, that's rich! Well thanks for your help.

DOJ Official: Your welcome.

End phone call.

Fed Takes Out the Trash

The guys who brought us the magic of the deregulated mortgage market are finding new and creative ways to make amends. The plan announced today by the Fed was ambitious enough to coax very a large gain out of the market and has the cutsey name Term Securities Lending Facility. The Fed is basically allowing large financial institutions to borrow liquidity (cash or safe Treasuries) and use the mortgage backed securities that have led to the liquidity woes as collateral. My favorite twist on the proposed credit line is this, any securities that hve a premium rating will be accepted as collateral.

This is of course is meaningless since many of the "premium" credit ratings were assigned with a wink from S&P and Moody's to the future detriment of investors. At this point in the game the mere act of accepting this garbage as collateral is soothing enough to the calm everyones' nerves for the time being.

The Fed is going to lend up to $200 billion as of his program. It would be nice to think the same helping hand may soon be extended to local government issuers who have been stung by the collapse of the auction rate securities market. A collapse brought on by the aforementioned players now on the receiving end of the Fed's generosity. For more information on that mess check out Mayor Bloomberg's little financial news site.

Here It Comes...

...there it goes.










It was bad enough for the Akron PD to break out the snow chains and




we canceled the family picnic.

Anyone Want To Buy A Sewer System?

I'm not keen on Plusquellic's plan to sell the Akron sewer system because of its apparent abdication of a main line government responsibility.

On the other hand as the City of Cleveland has discovered again, aging infrastructure leaves governments and taxpayers with a huge liability. I know sewer lines are not prone to bursting (thank god) but the required CSO compliance comes with a multi-billion dollar cost. That's a bill somebody is going to get stuck with.

Tom Ricks at CPL

Tom Ricks WaPo military affairs reporter and author of the book Fiasco will be giving a talk in Cleveland:

Cleveland Public Library Main Branch
Louis Stokes Wing
Sunday March 2nd at 2PM

See you there.

Quinny Comes Calling

We won the political polling lottery yesterday. Quinnipiac University called our randomly selected phone number looking for fresh meat. To keep things randomized they asked to speak a the voting age person who has the soonest birthday. That was my wife and I made her take the call although she didn't look too thrilled at first even though I was chanting " do the Quinny". They went through about five minutes of questions including who she intended to vote for on March 4th. I'm guessing there should be a new poll out soon.

Turkey and Timetables

The current military invasion of that sovereign nation known as Iraq has taken a surreal turn. I'm of course talking about theTurkish invasion not the U.S. invasion. As Turkey has moved into Kurdistan to turn up the heat on P.K.K. guerrillas they have carefully employed the same rhetoric as the administration when it comes to getting out of Iraq.

In an implausible ironic twist Turkey is arguing with the U.S. about timetables on troop withdrawal from Iraq. Secretary Gates met with Turkish officials in Ankara today and the best he could get from the Turkish government was "A short time is a relative term.", and something like if you can say screw timetables so can we. Is it considered chutzpah when the U.S. President says "The Turks need to move, move quickly, achieve their objective and get out," about military involvement in Iraq?

The blowback from the Iraq invasion continues to take on new form every day and will only get worse if the situation in Kurdistan doesn't cool off. Do you think the Kurds are watching what is going on in Kosovo and wondering if the same gambit would pay off for them?

Please Russ No More Mailers

We received what seems like the 500th mailer from the Keep Russ Pry campaign today.

Rusty I'm begging you no more mailers please. You already have my vote. I wouldn't think about voting for Joe Finley, a man who has been arguing with himself for the good part of a decade. Maybe think about greening up your act and cut back on the paper usage.

Post Debate, Message to Prospective Nominee

No live blogging of the debate here but it was cool to see a room full of local bloggers going at it in WKYC headquarters. Also great exposure for CSU, the City and Ron Paul supporters with big signs. The large chunk of time spent on health care was impressive but getting one last lok at the iteraction between Hilary and Barack was the real draw for me. I have nothing else to say about it that hasn't been floated in the MSM or blogosphere other than what follows.

Message to the Prospective Democratic Nominee - When Russert Attacks

I'll admit I wasn't overly impressed with both candidates responses to this question about Iraq from Tim Russert:

RUSSERT: I want to ask both of you this question, then. If this
scenario plays out and the Americans get out in totality, and Al Qaida
resurges and Iraq goes to hell, do you hold the right in your mind as
American president to reinvade, to go back into Iraq to stabilize it?

Barack and Hillary answered the question thoughtfully but they were not direct enough on the Al Queda threat posited by the Russert question. The question of Iraq will undoubtedly be a central issue in the general election campaign, it won't be the last time that question is asked of a Democratic candidate. In addition McCain will have to tout his support of the surge and will also be directing that same challenge to his opponent. What would you do pull out? You would let the terrorists win? The assertion that there is a possibility that Al Queda will take over Iraq has to addressed head on. Doing so will redirect the focus to the actual problem of the Iraq occupation and cut the terrorist hysteria off at the knees.

The Democratic nominee should never address questions of Iraq and redeployment (semantics are important) and Al Queda taking over without mentioning:

There was no Al Queda presence in Iraq before the invasion.

Al Queda in Iraq's (Mesopotamia) creation was a response to the U.S. occupation.

The security vacuum resulting from this policy failure provided fertile ground for AQI to take hold in western Iraq.

We have to begin withdrawing forces anyway because the surge is unsustainable in the long term.

What ever happened to when they stand up we'll stand down?

The actions of the current administration on Iraq have let us no good options.

No way in hell is a predominantly Shia nation going to allow a group of foreign Sunni Salafists to "take over" their country.

To address a semi-moronic question like the one posed at last night's debate without driving these points home would be well, the beginning of silly season.

Thanks to Ohio Daily Blog for posting the debate transcript.

Give McCain Some Credit

McCain faced another "how do we beat the bitch" moment and this time made the right choice. It started when righty talker Bill Cunningham was warming up the crowd at a McCain rally in Cincy today. The rant which targeted Obama, Clinton and even Madeline Albright sounded like a cry for attention in the style of Ann Coulter. Really just standard fare for this species of bloviator.

To his credit John McCain disavowed the whole incident and even went as far to apologize to the media that were present. Yes, apologize for what we have come to know as a common right wing psychopathy. Now I'm sure part of the reaction from McCain was inspired from the constant hits he's taken from the ghouls on right-wing radio but it still showed some altruistic purpose. With both Obama and McCain lobbing snippets of admiration at public gatherings they are at least giving the impression that this general election could be decided mostly on policy questions.

That idea of course minimizes the threat of political hatchet jobs from outside players. You just know lapel pins, patriotism and the pledge will eventually be thrown into the mix from somewhere out in 527 land.

The Ameritrust Tower is Like a Bad Penny

That seemingly too good to be true offer the Cuyahoga County Commissioners got to buy the asbestos ridden Ameritrust building was just that. The Plain Dealer's Joe “I can't find my notepad” Guillen has a story on the Cuyahoga BOCC's intent to the reject the bid from K&D Group. It's nice to see the PD is finally printing a story on the something that has been known for over a week now.

Apparently the private developer offered a bid that requested the purchase price be financed by the County. Kind of like a reverse mortgage but less palatable. Now the commissioners have to continue the next phase of the “I meant to do that” strategy and go out for another round of bids. Of course K&D was the only bid the first time around. Maybe old man Jacobs is interested in getting the building back? Looks like the County is going to polish this turd (euphemism for creatively manage the results of poor decision making) on their own.

I have a hot tip for Joe Guillen and the PD. You may want prepare for a story on the Medical Mart project negotiations falling through.

Nader In, Race Just Got Greener

Ralph Nader has just announced he is running for president on Meet the Press. Russert is already playing up the 2000 election scare tactic as a response to Nader's announcement.

I just heard a collective scream from Dems everywhere. A mass panic is completely unnecessary. Let's face it the political landscape has changed a great deal since 2000. Nader's appeal to Democratic voters has reached a nadir in my view. If anything he may get the Democratic nominee to stay focused on issues like Iraq, corporatist influence, universal health care and a slew of other issues that we all value. He gets a little face time in return, so what.

I'm not concerned, really.

Dennis, Not Dead Yet

We've gotten a good dose this week of what the congressional race for the Ohio 10^th district is about. The challengers all tried in earnest to get their best shots at Dennis the Kucinich and make a case for a change in leadership.

After listening to the debate on Wednesday and the serious interview Q&A session with Dennis and Joe on 90.3 WCPN on Thursday I'm thinking Dennis will survive this one.

The real challenger, Joe Cimperman almost comes across as Dennis-lite and in fact sounded kind of over his head or naive at times. As for the other candidates (O'Grady, Ferris, and Palmer) I'm not sure what makes them particularly more qualified than Kucinich other than the fact they are not him. And that is certainly what the race for the Ohio 10th is about this year. Although it's probably going to take more than an endless supply Kucinich jokes to unseat him from his congressional perch.

For the voters the real test will be that if they are so turned off by the antics and ego of the boy mayor are they willing to take a chance on Cimperman? I don't see the other candidates peeling away enough votes to make a difference in the end. This one will come down to a one on one contest between an incumbent and the main challenger. I'm glad I don't live in that district anymore.

Howlin' At The Moon

Thought I'd try to take few pix of the lunar eclipse. I don't have what you would call professional grade equipment but it got the job done.


I gotta get me one of them there SLR cameras so when the next one comes around the moon will look bigger.



This was taken around 10 PM tonight. The red effect is caused by that spy satellite the U.S. Navy is trying to shoot down.


That cold air is no joke. Does a lunar eclipse mean spring is on the way?

Hynde and People for the Ethical Transport of Akronites

Chrissie Hynde a Rock Hall inductee, Restaurateur and friend to all animals was in town today to cross promote with Akron METRO. Ever the impresario Chrissie came back to Ohio to to ride a METRO bus and deliver a message on the vital nature of public transit and good vegan eats. The ABJ reports that Hynde is also “rail thin” and that she believes in the health benefits of public transit, “other countries have lower obesity rates because of their high quality public transportation systems.” says Hynde. It appears that the elimination of the free transfer is also a sticking point. Whatever happens with the tax increase I don't see that one coming back.

I admire Hynde and her stance on the importance of a well funded and well run transit system but something tells me she will forget our plight once she's back in London minding the gap . Next time she's back in town to check up on VegiTerranean she should float the idea of a state-wide gas tax to develop a truly regional approach to public transit.

One more thing. If you are going to charge $23 for gnocci you shouldn't make your patrons sit on cheap-ass patio furniture. Other than that the food was pretty good.

Is Obama Like Blu-Ray?

The writing is on the wall and it appears that Blu-ray is about to be declared the victor it the DVD format wars. With Best Buy and Walmart announcing they will only carry the Blu-ray format and Netflix phasing out HD DVD it looks as if this one is over. A cottage industry of reusing worthless HD DVD disks is already taking shape.

A caller to the February 12^th edition of CNET Buzz Out Loud (CNet's podcast of indeterminate length) had a great comparison of Hillary and Obama to the DVD format wars:

1. They've got the same initials! It's H. vs. B.
   
   
2. There are no significant differences in policy/features between H. and B.
   
   
3. H. appeals to people with less money, but B. has won the support of a broad constituency of high-profile names.
   
   
4. H. has name recognition and might seem like an extension of what we've had in the past, whereas B. is a "fresh face", a new (kinda funny sounding--but catchy!) name on the scene.
   
   
5. At this date and time, it looks pretty rough out there for H., as B. is riding a wave of momentum.

Next up, a comparison of the two GOP candidates with VHS and Beta Max.

Are The Blue Dogs Yellow?

If Al Queda is in your favorite five now would be a good time to call them. With House Dems holding their ground on FISA, the Protect America Act of 1984 expired at midnight. The Prez. Has told us we are now vulnerable to the “enemy” and our intelligence services don't have the "tools” to protect us. We're supposed to depend on that tool to protect us? This is all a load of crap since FISA itself has been and still is in effect.

I don't know what's worse, the hefty amount of false acrimony from the GOP or the pliable Blue Dog contingent of House Dems. The Republicans, well I can understand their hapless obstructionism in the FISA follies. Are there Democratic House members actually petrified by the lame threats from the President? Are they that afraid of a thirty second spot accusing them of being soft on terrorism? Is amnesty for telcos that important that it requires crossing party lines and refusing to debate the Senate version of the FISA update?

The EFF website has been doing a great job at covering the FISA stuff if you're interested.

The FISA Sell Out of 2008

My person, house, papers and effects don't feel so secure thanks to the 67 U.S. Senators who felt it was more important to protect telcos from legal prosecution than hold them accountable. Today the more deliberative of our legislative bodies approved a FISA bill that preserves legal immunity for AT&T and others that may have been complicit in the government's warrantless wiretapping plans.

Apparently only 31 Senators,all democrats save one (Bernie Sanders I-VT) were willing to risk being accused of comforting the enemy in order to take a stand for the 4^th amendment. Our own Sherrod Brown was part of the group that voted against amnesty while the other guy was okay with leaving it in the final bill.

With this legal roadblock out of the way giant telco's can get back to the business of devising a plan to create a tiered Internet. Or better yet maybe AT&T would be willing to drop those plans as a trade-off for this little favor.

Hollow Government Comes to Akron

Don't do it Mayor Don.

I am flummoxed over the Mayor's announced plan to privatize the City of Akron's sewer system.
The lure of easy money no matter how good it looks will come with a price. Calling it an" tuition plan" doesn't make it anything else other than a privatization plan.

Mayor Plusquellic is one of the last people I could imagine embracing a Friedmanite ponzi scheme like selling off a public asset. Slapping the education label on the the thing and avoiding the greater debate of what happens after the transfer is made is a worrisome sign. Is this more about the City bracing for future cash crunches than free college? What happens to the sewer rates when a foreign entity takes over? Is the water system next?

Much more on this later.

Where's My Stimulus Check?

As predicted by briefcase radical Senate Republicans resorted to filibustering the economic stimulus plan rather than allowing additional benefits to be incorporated into the final product. The proposed spending increase would have broadened the reach of the plan by getting dollars into the hands of people who would spend it. From the AP story,

The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.

With no chance of surpassing the sixty vote limit Harry Reid and Company will have to compromise with the Republicans and get something approved soon. The flip side is that the GOP caucus takes some heat for yet another mean spirited power play, not a stretch.

The Chinese connection to the stimulus plan, also highlighted in these pages, was not lost on Sen. Byron Dorgan. According to an article on Politico the North Dakota Democrat wants to remind rebate recipients to divert the flow of stimulus dollars away from China and other U.S. Creditors,

In fact, Dorgan has offered an amendment to the Senate economic stimulus bill that would require millions of rebate checks to have the slogan "Support Our Economy - Buy American."

I plan to heed the good Senator's request. Although with that limitation I'm not sure what I will purchase with my stimulus dollars. So much for a new laptop or stylish clothes from the Gap. Is anyone up for a trip to Amish country?

It's Here:Super Tuesday Prelim's

Our primary election hydra sprouts new heads tonight as the returns come rushing in. The (insert superlative here) Tuesday primary bacchanal promises to deliver all sorts of surprises and open up the next phase in the presidential contest. Here are a few observations as we anxiously await for the carnage to begin.

Us and Them
The governing style of each party are characteristically ingrained their primary rules. Dems divide state delegates proportionally and the GOP use a winner take all method. Democratic primary voters living abroad can vote while their GOP counterparts do not have that right. A move I haven’t been able to answer is why the polls in the W.Virginia GOP-only primary close at 12:30 in the afternoon (according to a spread in the Wall Street Journal).

Don’t Bother Parsing Yet
With 24 States and a whole slew of polling data pouring in over the last few days it’s not worth trying to divine any certainty from the numbers. Yeah Barack Star has momentum but there’s way too much going on to be sure of the results. I’ll opt to wait for the dust to clear some time after midnight before I am willing to trust what I see.

Ron Paul Wins AK?
Can the this libertarian in GOP clothing pull off a lone primary win in Alaska? This seems to be his only even remote chance at wining a state.

Right Wing Radio Melts Down – Again.
When McCain wins big tonight I expect the sound of Republicans eating their own to fill the airwaves tomorrow. Rush, Hannity and company have been apoplectic over McCain’s appeal and if he puts Mitt down for the count tonight expect the shrieking to get louder.

Ohio Matters
They like me, they like me, they really like me.

If you believe the conventional wisdom (smart money?) then the democratic race will not be decided tonight. That means the good ol’ buckeye state will land a top spot on Tim Russert’s little white board when the March 4^th primary rolls around. It’s good to relevant.

Where to watch
Aside from the bountiful content available on the internets I plan to watch MSNBC. Chris Matthews can be hard to digest and Russert comes across as way too serious when paired with Keith O. but it works. CNN’s coverage is overly contrived and they still think Bill Bennet makes a good addition to their panel.

Record Setting Rudy

Rotten Rudy 2008 the presidential candidate may have dropped out of the race but not before accomplishing something of note.

As reported in the LA Times and carried by TPM Rudy spent an eye popping $48.8 million for his one prized delegate. Now that's sound fiscal management we could have used in the White House.

SCO: Hey This Home Rule Thing is Catchy

I was actually surprised when I heard about the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling in favor of traffic cameras. This case looked like it was going to be one the more contentious issues revolving around the rights of larger cities to implement the cameras. In the end the Court actually invoke the home rule provisions of the Ohio Constitution. Per the GONGWER report,

Justices said in a unanimous opinion that municipalities have the power under home rule to enact civil penalties for traffic signal light or speeding violations, provided the city does not alter statewide traffic regulations.

A ruling with some balance in it. The irony of course is that this centers around red light and speeding cameras. As important as the ruling was for cities like Akron and Cleveland it is likely to ruffle the feathers of citizens and state lawmakers alike.

Next up in the home rule show is the residency requirement. Are the rumors of residency requests untimely demise unfounded?