Consumer confidence drops - MA housing sales hit 10 year low

Lots of mixed signals in the economy at the moment. There is plenty of information that suggests an improving economy in the short term but with the deficit and high oil prices sticking around for a while it is still very delicate. Add to that the tanking real estate market and it's no surprise that there is some concern out there, rightly so.

One of the hottest real estate markets in recent years is now falling off of a cliff, hitting a ten year low. I always thought that Greenspan's rubbish about frothy markets and not a national bubble was one of his lowest and most ridiculous moments. If the bubble bursts in the middle of Wyoming, sure, who cares? But when it bursts in a major state and is followed by another major market, what the hell do you think will happen? Well for starters, consumer confidence drops. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Anything interesting before bed? Read the rest of this post...

"Assassination Ann" cancels GOP speaking gig after complaints from Republicans

Someone's getting a little toxic. Read the rest of this post...

AP: "Civil war looms" in Iraq

Absolute utter disaster.

Headline: Civil War Looms With 68 Killed in Baghdad

Text: Iraq began to tilt seriously toward outright civil war after the Feb. 22 bombing of the important Shiite Askariya shrine in the mainly Sunni city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush is still lying about Katrina

Bush tells ABC News, in an interview to be broadcast on World News Tonight, Nightline and Good Morning America, that the problem with Hurricane Katrina was that the White House didn't have enough "situational awareness" of what was happening on the ground in New Orleans:

BUSH: Listen, here's the problem that happened in Katrina. There was no situational awareness, and that means that we weren't getting good, solid information from people who were on the ground, and we need to do a better job. One reason we weren't is because communications systems got wiped out, and in many cases we were relying upon the media, who happened to have better situational awareness than the government.

That's a lie. The White House new the levies were breaking and did nothing about it. We now know that for a fact. In addition, Bush was on vacation and didn't get any substantial updates about the situation on the ground until Thursday and Friday of the week (the hurricane hit Monday morning). Bush CHOSE not to get updates about Katrina, he was ON VACATION and chose to STAY on vacation.

And he wonders why he's at 34% in the polls. Because he's a liar who refuses to ever take responsibility for anything.

Then we get this little tidbit about 9/11:

I thought, for example, the reaction to the 9/11 attack was a remarkable reaction, positively. When the terrorists attacked and destroy two buildings, there were rescue teams rushing in to save lives. There was a response by the city that was a coordinated response.

Yes, the response from the city of New York was incredible, especially since you were in hiding the entire day up until 6:15PM that evening when you finally returned to the White House. And New York City's brave and effective response is a reflection on you how?

More about Katrina. The big problem, according to Bush, is that the government didn't "comfort people." Comfort people? What, you mean like give em a hug?

VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?

BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked Â? the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was Â? could have done a better job of comforting people.

The people of New Orleans didn't need comfort. They needed a helicopter to get them out of trapped buildings that had no food and water. Comfort them?

Then Bush starts lying about Iraq:

And as you know, we've reduced troop levels this year, and that's because our commanders on the ground have said that the security situation in Iraq is improving because the Iraqis are more capable of taking the fight.

That's another outright lie. US troops levels just went down to the levels they were at right before the elections two months ago, when we sent in additional troops to help keep the peace. We didn't reduce troop levels because things are going better, we simply withdrew the troops associated with the election. Read the rest of this post...

Homophobic, anti-Semitic 'Christian' activists who promote hate literature are now trying to get Desperate Housewives thrown off the air

The radical religious right group, the American Family Association, has become the book burners of the new century. They don't simply have a gripe with a few things in our culture, a few companies, a few TV shows. They want America to be forced to live under their warped, minority view of an extremist Biblical lifestyle that doesn't even comport with the majority of mainstream American Christianity.

And now they're trying to kill the hit show "Desperate Housewives."

You'll recall that this is the same group that "boycotted" Ford, then lost, after we exposed the organization as gay-hating, having a terrible record of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim writings, AND the fact that the AFA actually promotes the "Nazi Germany era" science of known hate groups on their Web site.

It's hard to believe that any American company, or politician, would want to be associated with such fringe haters.

Let me share with you, and the folks who run Desperate Housewives, the exact message the American Family Association is promoting:

Does a "Jewish upbringing" lead to a life of crime?

In the March issue of American Family Association Journal, a publication of Donald E. Wildmon's right-wing evangelical activist group, the American Family Association (AFA), author Randall Murphree suggested that a Jewish upbringing leads to hatred of Christians, and by extension, a criminal lifestyle.

Were gays the real evil behind the Holocaust?

Scott Lively, California chapter director of the AFA, is co-author of a book titled, The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality and the Nazi Party, in which he claims that “homosexuals [are] the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities.” Lively makes explicit links between his claims about the Nazi party and the modern gay equal rights movement, claiming that “From the ashes of Nazi Germany, the homo-fascist phoenix has arisen again, this time in the United States.”

Is Europe "infested" with Muslims who breed "faster than we do"?

"The problem we have with Europe is that [it] is infested with the Muslim population. The reason why is because they multiply at a much faster rate than we do," she says. "When we Christians get married, we have two, three, maybe four children -- after they're born, we start thinking about what college we're going to send them to, what education we're going to give them. The Muslims, on the other hand, are allowed to marry up to four wives at a time," she says, noting that terrorist Osama bin Laden had 27 children.

Is AIDS a "gay plague"?

Some time ago, you see, Thacker called AIDS "the gay plague," which everyone knows but no one will admit, particularly homosexuals and their friends in the Bush Administration.

Are gays responsible for the "end of times"?

The president of one pro-family group feels the battle in Massachusetts over legalizing homosexual marriage is a clear example of the struggle between good and evil as the end times approach.

Are Muslim-Americans trying to "take over our cities"?

Muslim newcomers are engaging in what area realtors call "block busting." In other words, he says, "They came in, paid outrageously high prices for some of our homes that you wouldn't give $20,000 for, paying 60 and 70 thousand, which then entrenched a number of [Muslim families] on every block." Golen believes this is part of a "concerted effort" on the part of Muslims to use their financial power take over the city, and he says, "they're doing a heck of a job because nobody's standing up to them."

Are gays "deviants"?

"...an immoral, deviant lifestyle."

Are gays a "public health" threat?

As a family physician, I’ve seen first-hand the devastation that homosexuality brings into the lives of patients that have chosen to live this way.... To promote homosexuality and even consider the sanctioning of it through “marriage” is irresponsible and is a danger to the public health of the entire country, spiritually and physically.

Do Jews control Hollywood?

The AFA Journal has long served as a platform for anti-Semitic theories and innuendo. For instance, Wildmon warned of Jewish control over popular culture, an old anti-Semitic canard, in a January 1989 article, "What Hollywood Believes and Wants." "The television elite are highly secular," Wildmon wrote. "The majority (59 percent) in the Jewish faith." In a separate article in the same issue, titled "Anti-Semitism Called a Serious Problem," Wildmon, a longtime opponent of gay rights, pointedly remarked that "Jews favor homosexual rights more than other Americans."

Are gays diseased perverts who die early? - I'm not even going to quote this crap from AFA, read it for yourself and then tell me how any American company or politician would ever want to listen to these people.

I'm starting to think we may need a new word for these religious right groups: Christian supremacists.

(PS You can find more American Family Association homophobia here.) Read the rest of this post...

GOP thinks exposing their ethical violations is unethical

Speaking of GOP corruption which we seem to do an awful lot of these days....we've finally learned what the GOP thinks is unethical: reporting on the GOP ethics violations. From The Hill:

The House Republicans’ campaign operation is charging that a recently released Democratic report on Republican corruption violated ethics rules.

The 103-page report, “America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption,” was compiled by the Democratic staff of the House Rules Committee and released by the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), last week.

The report reiterates repeats many of Democrats’ long-held concerns about Republicans’ actions on healthcare, energy, the environment, homeland security and Hurricane Katrina.

Congresswoman Slaughter did a post on the report over at DailyKos when she released the report last week. The full report is available in a pdf version here. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Have at it. Read the rest of this post...

Is it true you're that either an activist or a journalist?

I've been "accused" over the years of being an "activist" and not a "journalist." What I think my accusers meant by that was that activists are biased and not necessarily truthful, while journalists were objective and tell the truth.

A few problems with this argument. First, I've talked to more than my share of journalists and they all have political beliefs, most as strong as mine, so how does that make me biased and them objective simply because I let my political leanings hang out and they keep theirs to themselves?

Second, why are being an activist and a journalist mutually exclusive? This came up in the context of CNN's Lou Dobbs going after the Dubai Ports. CBS News' blog quoted a media observer making the following point:

"To me, you're either an advocate or a journalist. You shouldn't pretend to be both."

Now, I don't pretend to be an expert on the history of journalism, but I did watch the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" yesterday. It's about CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow taking on red-scare-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy. Now, I don't pretend to be as great as Edward R. Murrow, though I can certainly aspire. But much of what he had to say to and about McCarthy reminded me of a lot of what we do on the blogs, and in our activism work, every day.

And to take this off of myself, how did Murrow's public criticism of McCarthy differ in any way from Lou Dobbs' criticism of the Dubai deal? I can't find any difference.

What's unfortunate, and what I think is really going on here, is that FOX News and other Republican surrogates have so prostituted what it means to be a journalist - including using real prostitutes as journalists - that any journalist with an opinion is now suspect. The GOP sycophants have so crossed the line into pro-government propaganda that anyone who tries to criticize government is considered equally, if not more, suspect. Read the rest of this post...

Religious right wants Christians in Israeli parliament

It's an interesting question. But troublesome, to me, because I think the religious right is looking far beyond "equal representation" here. This is part of a larger long-term scheme to involve themselves in Israel's affairs since, after all, they think Israeli is theirs come Rapture time. Read the rest of this post...

72% of US troops in Iraq want us to withdraw in a year

That's the Murtha plan, a Democratic plan, that our troops are supporting. Remember that, oh Democrats who were afraid to support Congressman Murtha (Mr. Hoyer, uh hum). Democrats represent mainstream American values now. Believe it, and trumpet it. You don't get credit for coming to the party late - embrace these policies now.

From the NYT via E&P;:

A poll of U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq—reportedly the first of its kind—shows that 72% advocate a U.S. pullout within a year, with only 23% for staying as long ”as necessary,” reports Nicholas Kristof in his New York Times column today. Some 29% urge withdrawal “immediately.”

Kristof recently came out for setting a deadline for withdrawal at the end of next year.

The poll of 944 service members was conducted by Zogby International and LeMoyne College. Recent Gallup and CBS News polls have shown that most Americans at home also advocate the beginning of a pullout.

And one more thing, our troops think Bush has short-changed them:

Asked what it would take to “control the insurgency,” those surveyed strongly suggest that it would take doubling the number of ground troops and bombing missions.

Democrats need to abandon this failed war NOW, or just like Tom Daschle endorsing the $1.3 bn tax cuts, you can't criticize the other guy later on for a policy you too supported. Read the rest of this post...

Top Bush aides have ties to Dubai port company

Is that why a deal that poses questionable risks to national security was allowed to sail through, even against the objections of the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard? Read the rest of this post...

Dubai port company boycotts Israel

Yes, Dubai Ports World is part of the Arab boycott of Israel. Ah, such a developed and civil democracy they are.

And last time we checked, it was illegal for the US to help anyone facilitate that boycott. Will Dubai Ports World be stopping Israeli ships from coming to US ports? Read the rest of this post...

John Thune adds another angle to GOP ethics sleaze

South Dakota's Senator John Thune, who was elected with the aid of male prostitute Jeff Gannon, has provided yet another example of just how ethically bankrupt the GOPers on the hill can be. It sures seems like he has a lot in common with his infamous campaign operative:

It might be said that Senator John Thune went through the revolving door — backward.

Former Lives of Members of Congress As a lobbyist in 2003 and 2004, Mr. Thune earned $220,000 from the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, a small but ambitious company in South Dakota. The railroad hopes to rebuild and rehabilitate 1,300 miles of track, the nation's largest proposed railroad expansion in more than a century.

Now, as a junior senator from South Dakota, Mr. Thune is working to make that happen, raising questions about whether there should be curbs on lobbyists-turned-lawmakers in the same way that there are on those who take the more traditional route of leaving Capitol Hill for K Street.

Last year, his first in the Senate, Mr. Thune wrote language into a transportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for small railroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion in government financing for its project. The loan has yet to be approved; Mr. Thune said he was trying to promote economic development in his home state.

Their callous disregard for impropriety really shows no bounds. Read the rest of this post...

Sectarian violence claims 1,300 lives in Iraq

Bush keeps talking about freedom and democracy but once again, the realities on the ground in Iraq escape him. How many people have to die in Iraq before Bush recognizes his mistake? With renewed allegations against al-Sadr and his supporters, what is the plan for addressing him or are we going to continue to hear about bloody fighting over and over and over? Well, it must be time to blame the media again for their self-created mess.

But at the morgue, where the floor was crusted with dried blood, the evidence of the damage already done was clear. Iraqis arrived throughout the day, seeking family members and neighbors among the contorted bodies.

"And they say there is no sectarian war?" demanded one man. "What do you call this?"

Morgue officials said they had logged more than 1,300 dead since Wednesday -- the day the Shiites' gold-domed Askariya shrine was bombed -- photographing, numbering and tagging the bodies as they came in over the nights and days of retaliatory raids.

The Statistics Department of the Iraqi police put the nationwide toll at 1,020 since Wednesday, but that figure was based on paperwork that is sometimes delayed before reaching police headquarters.

The disclosure of the death tolls followed accusations by the U.S. military and later Iraqi officials that the news media had exaggerated the violence between Shiites and Sunnis over the past few days.

Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Here we go again. Read the rest of this post...

Poor planning the reason for problems in Iraq

Just because Bush and the GOP repeat their story a million times doesn't mean that they are correct. A new report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says what the Democrats have been saying all along. The planning was poorly organized, leading to chaos in Iraq.

Thanks to inadequate planning, the report said, early occupation officials lacked enough reconstruction staffers who knew what they were doing.

While reconstruction has cost American taxpayers about $30 billion three years after the overthrown of Saddam Hussein, the country still lacks reliable electricity, water and other services. Monday's report Â? covering the time the country was under control of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority Â? said early efforts were greatly affected by personnel problems.

"Pre-war reconstruction planning assumed that Iraq's bureaucracy would go back to work when the fighting stopped," it said. "When it became clear that the Iraqi bureaucracy was in widespread disarray," occupation authorities "had to find coalition personnel to perform these tasks."

"The U.S. government workforce planning for Iraq's reconstruction suffered from a poorly structured, ad-hoc personnel management processes," the report said, calling hiring practices "haphazard."

Read the rest of this post...

Going up or down?

Where is the under-45 generation going economically? I don't know how often people in the US discuss this issue but I find that here in France, this subject can really set off a fire storm of debate. (I should note that in general the French love to debate just about anything and everything with strong emotion, but this is really a hot one with my friends.) Older generations had a growing economy, purchasing power and relative stability with work, not to mention benefits (retirement, health care) that have changed radically more recently for workers. With the baby boomers starting to join the ranks of retirees, the economic impact has now arrived.

So is this just a case of "things were better in the old days" or is it the reality of the under-45 generation that we will have to make do with less? Read on and debate. Read the rest of this post...

Questions the press still needs to ask about 9/11 and intelligence

From NeimanWatchdog:

Paul R. Pillar, the former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year, writes that the press was insufficiently questioning both in the run-up to war and in its coverage of the 9/11 Commission. He proposes questions reporters should ask -- retrospectively and prospectively -- about the use and abuse of intelligence by policymakers.

Read the rest of this post...