Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Alaska 2004 Voting Results: Government Does Confusing Things

Alaska's final 2004 election returns include a confusing description of how the votes are reported. The first part explains why the turnout was "over 100%" in Anchorage:

Voter Turnout for Municipality of Anchorage Precincts

In House Districts 16 – 32 some precincts show more than 100 percent voter turnout. This is because the State of Alaska conducted a special election for the Municipality of Anchorage concurrently with the 2004 General Election. In these districts, there were two ballots, a State ballot and a Municipality ballot. The % Turnout is based on the Cards Cast number. Because each voter could have cast two ballots the turnout in these districts is inflated. In these districts look at the Times Counted number for the US Presidential race to determine the actual number of State ballots cast in each precinct. This number, divided by the number of registered voters will yield the turnout for the precinct:

Early Voting Results

In each district there is a row entitled R# Early Voting. This presents the early voting results for each of the state’s four regions. The results are shown for entire regions, not for individual districts. Because the early voting results are for the entire region, the same regional numbers are repeated in each district. For example, Region 1 contains House Districts 1-5 and 33-36. The same early voting results are presented on the R1 Early Voting row in all districts in Region 1. Although the results are listed multiple times, they were not counted more than once. These results were reported only once in the statewide summary, which accurately presents the results for each race.

Partial Count Absentee & Questioned

A voter's ballot is partially counted if he or she votes out of district and is not eligible for particular races on the ballot. The Division counts what the voter is eligible to vote and considers it a "partial count." In each district's report there is a row entitled R# HD#-#, which represents Absentee & Questioned that were partially counted for each regional office. This presents the partial counts for Absentee & Questioned voting results for the House Districts listed (HD#-#). The results are not for individual districts. Although the results are listed in each district, they were not counted more than once. These results were reported only once in the statewide summary, which accurately presents the results for each race.

The first paragraph doesn't sound too bad. You just have to look at the presidential race results to get the turnout instead of the column marked "turnout".

The second paragraph shows that in statewide races, the only available breakdown of votes not cast on Election Day is into only five regions. This doesn't give monitors a whole lot of detail.

The third paragraph I don't understand at all. The results on the reports (link) are totally confusing. There might be a guide to this somewhere, but I can't find it on the site.

The 2006 and 2008 returns are better written. It makes you feel less like the Alaska Division of Elections is trying to pull a fast one.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Obama Wins Nevada, Prez Election Now Strongly Leaning

More early voting results are in-

Nevada (74% reporting)- Obama 57%, McCain 43%

This result allows me to call Nevada for Barack Obama, since McCain would need 70% of the remaning part of the vote to win. With Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico, he now has 26 electoral votes, of which 19 are in 2004 Bush states. In order to win, Obama needs 17 more votes than Kerry. Thus, if this holds up, McCain will have to win at least 3 electoral votes won by Kerry. Kerry did not win Ohio or Florida, and so this would have to be New Hampshire or an even less likely Kerry state like Pennsylvania. Early voting results showing strong Obama leads in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Montana, all Bush states in 2004, add to the bad news for McCain.

Georgia is too close to call in both the presidential and Senate races. This Senate race could turn out to be the ninth for Democrats, which would require a filibuster to need the votes of either Lieberman or a Democrat to be sustained. However, if the winner fails to get 50% of the vote, the Libertarian candidate (4%) will be eliminated and a second round will be held between the top two candidates on December 2.

Georgia (57% reporting)- Obama 52%, McCain 47%
Georgia Senate- Martin (D) 51%, Chambliss (R) 45%

Indiana and Missouri also have some early results in-

Indiana (22% reporting)- Obama 64%, McCain 35%
Indiana governor- Jill Long Thompson (D) 53%, Mitch Daniels (R-inc.) 46%

Missouri (11% reporting)- Obama 56%, McCain 43%
Missouri governor- Nixon (D) 67%, Hulshof 32%

More Premature Calls in "Tuesday" Election

18 hours before the polls "open", early voting exit polls continue to stream in from Public Policy Polling:

North Carolina (63% reporting): Obama 55%, McCain 45%
North Carolina governor: Perdue (D) 54%, McCrory (R) 43%
North Carolina Senate: Hagan (D) 56%, Dole (R) 41%

Florida (56% reporting): Obama 56%, McCain 43%

Montana (38% reporting): Obama 61%, McCain 35%
Montana governor: Schweitzer (D) 72%, Brown (R) 27%
Montana Senate: Baucus (D) 78%, Kelleher (R) 19%
Montana House: Rehberg (R) 50%, Driscoll (D) 47%

Ohio (30% reporting): Obama 65%, McCain 34%

Virginia (16% reporting): Obama 63%, McCain 36%
Virginia Senate: Warner (D) 68%, Gilmore (R) 31%

The North Carolina results allow me to call the North Carolina senate seat for Kay Hagan and the North Carolina governor's race for Beverly Perdue. The Montana results allow me to declare that Gov. Schweitzer and Sen. Baucus will be re-elected.

The results in North Carolina, Florida, Montana, and Ohio show strong Obama leans, but it is too early to call. McCain victories in these state will require turnout of non-early "likely" voters to be very high and for them to vote for Obama at higher rates then the poll suggests.

So far, the national picture is that Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico have been called for Obama (21 electoral votes) and four more states (65 electoral votes) are strongly leaning. All of these states, except Oregon, voted for Bush in 2004.

In the Senate, Democrats have gained five senate seats (Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, and North Carolina) and defended one (Montana).

Outlook:

"Tomorrow's" election looks like it will be good for Democrats. In early voting, Obama has gained 12 electoral votes in Bush states with 65 leaning. Since he needs only 17 more electoral votes than Kerry to win, this looks like a likely Obama victory at the current time. In the Senate, the polling for Alaska Senate is a disaster area for convicted felon Ted Stevens in Alaska. Incumbent Republicans in Minnesota and New Hampshire are likely to lose with three more Republican-held Senate seats in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Georgia possibly in play. While the Democrats are unlikely to win all 11 of these Senate seats, eight or nine looks quite likely.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Harrysworldnews Becomes First Media Organization To Call States in 2008

In some states, considerable early voting has taken place, and polls have sampled the early voting. These exit polls in some cases give enough information that media organizations would call the race-- if the polls were already closed.

Because I am a bastard who doesn't care about demoralizing late voters, I'm going to scoop the mainstream media. Democrats have picked up three Republican Senate seats in Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico. In the presidential race, Obama has won two 2004 Bush states, Colorado and New Mexico, with a total of 12 electoral votes,, and one Kerry state, Oregon (12). In North Carolina, Democrats strongly lead for president, Senate, governor, and in one congressional race with a Republican incumbent, but not quite by enough to call.

In Oregon, with 59% of the likely vote reporting, Sen. Barack Obama has won 7 electoral votes, which were won by John Kerry in 2004 by five points:

Obama: 64%
McCain: 35%

In an additional Oregon result, Jeff Merkley (D) has defeated incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith (R):

Merkley: 59%
Smith: 37%

In Colorado, with 65% of the likely vote reporting, Sen. Barack Obama has won 8 electoral votes, which were won by George W. Bush in 2004 by five points:

Obama: 58%
McCain: 41%

In an additional Colorado result, Rep. Mark Udall (D) has defeated Bob Schaffer (R) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Wayne Allard (R):

M. Udall: 56%
Schaffer: 41%

In New Mexico, with 56% of the likely vote reporting, Sen. Barack Obama has won 5 electoral votes, which were won by George W. Bush by less than 1% in 2004:

Obama: 64%
McCain: 36%

In an additional New Mexico result, Rep. Tom Udall (D) has defeated Rep. Steve Pearce (R) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Pete Domenici (R):

T. Udall: 64%
Pearce: 34%

Races in North Carolina are strongly leaning, but are in my opinion not quite ready to call:

In North Carolina, with 33% reporting:

Obama: 63%
McCain: 36%

In additional North Carolina results, Kay Hagan (D) leads Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R):

Hagan: 61%
Dole: 35%

And for governor, Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue (D) leads Pat McCrory (R) and leads 60% to 36% and Larry Kissell (D) leads Rep. Robin Hayes (R) in the 8th Congressional district by a vote of 60% to 39%. (Links)

In other states:

In Michigan, 23% has voted. Obama has a lead of 60% to 40% and Sen. Carl Levin (D) leads Jack Hoogendyk 63% to 35%.

In West Virginia, 18% has voted and Obama leads 50% to 49%. Incumbent Democrats Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Gov. Joe Manchin have comfortable leads, 61%-39% and 69%-27%.

In Minnesota, only 9% has voted. Obama leads 59% to 39% and Al Franken (D) leads incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R) by a vote of 47% to 39% with 12% for Dean Barkley.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Liberation Tigers Field World's Only Insurgent Air Force

Image: Moravan Aviation (Czech Republic) Zlin Z 142 aircraft, used by the air force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

You'd think it would happen more often in countries with limited state air force capacity, but as far as I know, Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are the only insurgent group in the world to currently have an air force.

The Air Tigers appear to have used their air force to set the main power plant in Colombo on fire. This rare photo below shows their cool uniforms.

An undated picture released by Tamil Tiger rebels shows two Tiger soldiers by a light aircraft


The bombing mechanism is apparently manufactured by the Tigers themselves. It's just a rack with four bombs on it under the plane. (article with photo).

A report says that they actually achieved two hits on the power plant. These guys seem to have pretty good aim. There was a power outage, but that might have been a defensive measure to make visual targeting more difficult.

The aim looks pretty good for four gravity bombs, although I suppose they might have been able to fly pretty close to the target in their slow-moving little plane.

Monday, October 27, 2008

ROTFL! Persian Gulf Banks In Trouble

Banks in the Persian Gulf region have suddenly been hit with panic withdrawals, leading to government intervention.

Oddly, this is going on despite the fact that the price of oil is about $70 a barrel, which is three times the price in 2002. The oil price last was at $70 per barrel only 17 months ago.

There are reports that say:

"The six Arab Gulf economies, which pump almost 23 percent of the world's oil, need prices to remain above $60 to $65 a barrel to sustain spending, investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding SAE said in a report Sept. 23. Oil fell to a 17-month low of $63 today.

If this is true, expect blood on the streets. The US is going to leave Iraq, and the new administration is unlikely to spend most of its time going out of its way to destabilize oil markets by invading Middle Eastern countries for no reason. Prices in the $40 range within two or three years seem likely to me, which is significantly higher than the prices in the twenties that were the norm between 1986 and 2003. At some points between 1998 and 2000, the oil price actually dropped below $15 a barrel.

Mostly what this shows is that Middle East oil states might need banks which actually have some disclosure and accountablity. But accountability would require owners that are actually subject to the rule of law, and given who has all the money in these countries, the only way we could ever see this in the short term is to get out the guillotine and take off some crowned heads. Barring that, people in the Persian Gulf countries should consider keeping their cash at Citigroup or HSBC. At least the US and China might be able to fire the people who throw their depositors money away on these hare-brained investments.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bush To Talk To Iran--After The Election!

Apparently, the Republicans don't believe their own crap about not dealing with Iran. But they're trying to keep up appearances until the election.

Once again, the page I am viewing has an ironic ad- the ad is an attack ad from the "Republican Jewish Coalition" bashing Obama for wanting to talk to Iran. Oops.

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031246.html

Last update - 19:20 25/10/2008
Report: Bush to declare renewal of ties with Iran
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news, U.S., diplomacy

Several American media outlets reported on Saturday that President George Bush is likely to announce after next month's presidential elections that he intends to restore the diplomatic relations with Iran, almost 30 years after they were suspended.

Quoting U.S. civil servants, the reports said that Bush's decision to postpone the announcement until after the elections was meant to rid the two presidential candidates of having to deal with the controversial move.

In the first stage, the American administration allegedly seeks to appoint a low-level diplomatic delegation, and has already started the recruitment process.
Tehran has already been informed of the initiative, but its view on the matter remains unclear. Similar reports were published a few months ago, but the plan was then put on hold.

Earlier this month, the American Iranian Council, a U.S.-based organization, was banned from operating in Iran. However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a U.S. tour last month that he would consider restoring his country's relations with the U.S.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said Tehran would favorably consider such proposal, as long as it was to be carried out bilaterally.

U.S. sources said the purpose of the diplomatic effort is to better communicate American messages to the Iranian people, which are largely hostile to the U.S. They said that it does not signal a conciliatory approach to the Iranian regime or any change of policy vis-à-vis the contentious issues that are on the table, namely Iran's nuclear program.

The United States severed its diplomatic ties with Iran in 1979, in the wake of the Islamic revolution that ousted the Shah and brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power. A group of Iranian students, supported by the Islamists, took over the American embassy and held its workers hostage for over a year.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pakistan Declares Short Selling To be Un-Islamic!

In the recent US financial crisis, limits have been placed on short selling of financial stocks. It appears that Pakistan has actually found it to be a sin. I suppose the next step is for the financial industry to lobby for the application of Shariah law in New York City.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/25/top8.htm

Stocks short-selling against Islam: FSC



By Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on Friday held ‘short selling’ and ‘blank sale’, a common practice in stock markets, against Islam.

The court suggested to the federal government to amend the Companies Ordinance of 1984 within six months for safeguarding the interests of ordinary shareholders of a company.

A five-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Haziqul Khairi, Justice Dr Fida Muhammad Khan, Justice Salahuddin Mirza, Justice Muhammad Zafar Yasin and Justice Syed Afzal Haider, had taken a suo motu notice to examine different provisions of the Companies Ordinance to determine whether the law violated the injunctions of Islam.

Unrestricted short selling, under Section 223 of the ordinance, is done on a financial instrument that the seller does not own at the time of the sale, but purchases the same later at a lower price to earn profit from an expected decline in the value of the instrument.

Section 223 of the ordinance requires that: “No director, chief executive, managing agent, chief accountant, secretary or auditor of a listed company, and no person who is directly or indirectly the beneficial owner of not less than ten per cent of the listed equity securities of such company, shall practice directly or indirectly short-selling such securities.”

Similarly, under the “Regulations for Short Selling under Ready Market, 2002,” blank sale is a sale by a party that does not own shares or is a sale by a party that has not entered into a contractual borrowing arrangement to meet delivery requirements.

It was essential, the judgment observed, to protect the interest of an individual shareholder and collective interests from the clutches of vested interest of monopoly stockholders and mafia operating in stock markets. Such measures will also inspire confidence and good corporate governance in the business world, the judgment said.

It said that this objective could be attained only when the federal government took steps to eliminate fraudulent malpractices in stock markets.

In exercise of its powers under Article 203-D of the Constitution, the judgment held, the FSC required the federal government through the President to take steps for such amendments within six months as may not be repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), envisaging penal provisions in respect of short sale and blank sale.

Focus on the Family Goes Off The Deep End


Desperation must be getting bad for the Republicans, because Focus on the Family just put out a letter aimed at scaring the crap out of the faithful.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/files/Focusletter.pdf

Apparently, Obama will put liberals on the Supreme Court who will reuire states to have gay marriage, ban the Boy Scouts, turn elementary schools into indoctrination camps for the homosexual agenda, close all the Christian adoption agencies, take conservatives like James Dobson off the air for "hate speech", fire all the counselors, doctors, nurses, etc, who are Christians, because apparently all real Christians can't possibly obay antidscrimination laws or work anywhere where abortions are allowed, take all the Christains out of the military (again because they can't tolerate the evil fags), kick all the Christains out of college (again because of the evil fag disrimination laws), ban the Pledge of Allegiance because of the phrase "under God", which has only been in it since 1952, the abortion rate will skyrocket because all the abortions blocked by current laws (WTF?) will be allowed, pornography will be freely available (can't these freaks use a web browser?), guns will be banned, causing inner-city crime (NIGGERS! NIGGERS!) to skyrocket, home-schooling will be banned (once again by the evil fags), al-Qaida will take over Iraq and kill millions for being collaborators (as if the US had millions of supporters in Iraq), terrorists will bomb the US, Russian tanks will roll across Eastern Europe (?!?), Venezuelan "communists" will seize control of Latin America, Iran will destroy Tel Aviv with nuclear weapons and Israel will be forced to give up the Palestinian territories (apparently the yellow-bellied Jews will not use their hundreds of nuclear weapons in response), health care will be turned into a single-payer socialist gulag which will cancel all health care for people over 80 because it is their time to die and put all other Americans needing care on endless waiting lists (because as we know, all private insurance plans immediately give everyone all the care they want as soon as they have the wish to want it free of any additional charges), put the whole lower half of the income distribution on welfare paid for by taxes so onerous that the upper half leaves for "overseas" (apparently to the free Christian nations that don't have any taxes), causing government revenues to plummet, industries are "completely unionized" destroying the American economy, which as we know is based on paying lower wages and benefits than competitors such is China, gas costs $7 a gallon with coal and nuclear energy is banned, the evil Obama administration bans talk radio, ending the careers of "Rush Limbaugh, Laura
Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager, Janet Parshall, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt, and
broadcasters like Dr. James Dobson." (YAY!!!), and all Christian books are banned by hate mobs vandalizing Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.

The final charge leveled by Focus on the Family, believe it or not, is that the Obama administration will put Bush Administration officials in jail by "posting secret White House papers on the Internet" to be used by "ACLU attorneys". No explanation is given of why these secret papers will allow charges against the Bush Administration, which everyone knows to be just and wise.

Apparently, the most important thing for these defenders of "family values" is that their Lord and Savior, George W. Bush, be allowed to have impunity for his secret conspiracy to stick foreign objects up an Arab's asshole. Because if Bush is convicted of conspiring to stick foreign objects up an Arab's asshole, THE FAGGOTS WIN!!

Financial Crisis Update- Which Countries Will Go Bankrupt?

The global financial crisis has hit a new phase- sovereign governments are becoming insolvent. Today Iceland and Ukraine went to the IMF for loans. Iceland is the first developed country to seek an IMF loan since Great Britain in 1976. Pakistan, Belarus, Serbia, and Hungary are reported to be in discussions with the IMF.

Reportedly, Iceland and Ukraine turned to the IMF after attempts to obtain loans from Russia failed, and Pakistan has attempted unsuccessfully to seek aid from China and is now in talks with Saudi Arabia.

There are major political implications for some of these countries. Reportedly, the IMF is demanding a one-third cut in Pakistan's military budget as a condition for aid. That might be a problem for a country with active insurgency connected with the unstable situation in Afghanistan. It could even lead to a coup. One wonders where the US is in all of this, since the amount sought from the IMF is a loan of $9.6 billion, which may actually be paid back. That is small change on the scale of US spending on its own internal bailout and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Belarus, a virtual dependency of Russia, is remarkable because it means that Russia itself is in serious trouble. It is reported that CDS premiums on Russian debt have increased to 10.5%, which is (if the notoriously dysfunctional CDS market actually worked) supposed to approximate the difference between the interest rate on the covered bonds and prevalent interbank lending rates. The most recent edition of the Forbes billionaire list has stated that Russian billionaires have had $260 billion (!) in trading losses in recent weeks, and the Moscow stock market has had repeated trading halts because margin calls have led these "oligarchs" to dump shares in search for cash, which cannot be sold because the Russian non-oligarch population cannot afford to buy. Apparently the security of rich individuals depends on having a middle class to trade with. Who knew?

Ukraine, also affected by the Russian troubles, is in deep political crisis over allegations by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that President Viktor Yushchenko is involved in illegal arms trade with Georgia and Sudan. The Sudan allegation is connected with the interception of a shipment of Ukrainian tanks by pirates off the Somali coast. The political crisis has led to a dissolution of Parliament and the calling of the third elections since the Orange Revolution in 2005, which were first set for December 7 but have apparently been postponed. The postponement is at least for a week while the now un-dissolved parliament discusses the bailout.

Kazakhstan, another state linked to Russia, is also reported to be in major trouble, with its CDS rates being even higher than Russia's.

Hungary, a European Union member, may avoid needing an IMF bailout if European countries do it instead. Its currency has already dropped 16% against the euro since October 1 because it is unable to support its value with its euro reserves. Reportedly, Hungary has already recieved a loan of €5 billion from the European Central Bank.

Other countries with potential for default include Romania, Turkey, Latvia, and Argentina. Turkey is also in serious political crisis, with many opposition politicians implicated in the massive Ergenekon case, which in a 2,544-page indictment against 86 individuals which is expected to take weeks just to read, alleges that a secret state-sponsored terrorist organization is responsible for many unsolved incidents in the last fifty years of Turkish history.

So, we can expect a lot of turmoil in upcoming months. Meanwhile, the US government can be expected to be paralyzed until January 20 because of its own political upheaval, scheduled for a week from Tuesday.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Major Operation Possibly Founded by CIA 60 Years Ago Busted In Turkey?

In the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in setting up secret insurgency cells in some European countries to resist a future Warsaw Pact invasion. Many of these groups were rumored to wealthy individuals, organized crime networks, and remnants of the defeated fascist organizations. In Italy and Turkey there has been suggestion that such groups have been behind bombings and political assassinations leading up to the present day.'

It appears that the Turkish government has put the leadership of this network, known in Turkey as "Ergenekon", on trial, on the grounds that they were planning a coup against the ruling party, which is hated by hardcore secularists because it has abandoned some of the anti-religious policies of the modern Turkish state such as the ban on headscarves in universities. This group is rumored to have been involved in many attacks in the past, including the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. The Wikipedia page is full of wacky stuff. This could be one of the biggest conspiracy theory bonanzas of modern times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/world/europe/21turkey.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

86 on Trial in Turkish Coup Case

Murad Sezer/Associated Press

A demonstration outside the prison in Silivri, Turkey, on Monday as the trial of 86 people accused of conspiring to overthrow the government began.

Published: October 20, 2008

SILIVRI, Turkey — One of the most sensational public trials in Turkish history began on Monday when a court started hearing a case against 86 people, among them retired army generals, journalists, and common criminals, charged with crimes including assassinations and bomb attacks in a plot to topple the government.

The main focus of the case is an illegal ultranationalist network, known as Ergenekon — the name is a reference to a central Asian Turkic legend. Prosecutors claim that the organization’s members used violence to try to manufacture chaos in society and weaken support for the government to pave the way for the fifth coup in the history of modern Turkey.

The charges against the group, unveiled this summer in a 2,455-page indictment, include the murders of a judge, a priest, a journalist, three workers of a Christian publishing house, and the bombing of a newspaper. The group is also charged with plotting to kill public figures, including Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish novelist who won the Nobel Prize. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the governing Justice and Development party has been accused of using the case to silence critics who say his party has an Islamist agenda that undermines the secularism enshrined in Turkey’s founding as a democracy in 1923. The party, known by its Turkish abbreviation AKP, insists that it has moved past its Islamic roots and has a modernizing agenda that includes greater freedom of religious expression.

A powerful elite of military officers, judges and senior bureaucrats has steered the country from behind the scenes since its inception, and has overthrown the government four times. That group’s violent fringe was in effect on trial here Monday, in what appears to be the first major effort for a public accounting of state-sponsored crime.

There are other issues besides the suspected coup involved in the case — including political assassinations, other murder plots and possible attacks on NATO sites — that make it appear broader than a struggle between the elite and the governing party, and one of the accused is a member of the governing party: Turhan Comez, a Parliament member who has fled Turkey.

The case has shocked Turkish society. Criticism of the military, even of former officers, is extremely rare, and the fact that Turkey is holding the trial at all is seen by some as victory for open society here.

The indictment states that network “turned our country into a mafia and terror heaven.”

The investigation started last year, when the police, following a telephone tip, raided an apartment in a working-class neighborhood in Istanbul and found a cache of hand grenades. The grenades had the same identifying number as those used in a bomb attack on the offices of a newspaper supporting the elite, Cumhuriyet.

The Turkish police later arrested several suspects, including Veli Kucuk, a retired army general, and Dogu Perincek, a political leader believed to have ties to a Kurdish separatist group that the military has been fighting for years. The police also confiscated documents that prosecutors say outlined in a power point presentation how to restructure the state.

During a raid of a nationalist group in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, the police found a document on one of the suspect’s laptops that outlined an action plan to be taken if anyone from the governing party were to win the presidency. But there was no violence after a party member, Abdullah Gul, was elected president in August 2007.

Actions included what the indictment described as “shock assassinations” of the Greek and Armenian religious leaders in Turkey, as well as a prominent Jewish businessman, Ashak Alaton.

The Justice and Development Party and Mr. Erdogan, its leader, were clearly an important focus for the plotters.

One of the suspects, Tuncay Ozkan, a journalist and the founder of a television network, Kanalturk, was a principal organizer of anti-government rallies that drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets last year.

On Monday, a large, noisy crowd of the suspects’ supporters waved flags and hurled insults outside the court, which is located on the grounds of a prison.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Nutjob Arizona Sheriff Raids City Hall- Fails To Find Illegal Aliens


In a possible example of an election gimmick gone wrong, controversial Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio sent a heavily armed SWAT team to raid a city hall and library in his jurisdiction, which includes over three million people in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Supposedly they were looking for "illegal aliens". Three janitors were arrested at the library.

The city government of Mesa, headed by officials who had criticized Sheriff Arpaio's immigration sweeps in the past, had no prior notification of the allegations. The lack of notification of city police means that there was potential for conflict, but no one was hurt.

Arpaio, who is himself a son of Italian immigrants, has put pretrial detainees in tents outside the Maricopa County Jail in midsummer, fed inmates substandard food, marched 700 prisoners four blocks to a new jail wearing only flip-flops and pink underwear, and set up a civilian "posse" of dubious legality to go after illegal immigrants. His antics have resulted in over 2,000 lawsuits against the county for a total of over 50 million dollars. In fact, one of these suits, which resulted in an award of $635,532, was the result of a claim that an inmate was injured because the jail had done nothing to prevent the stakes from one the tents from being used as weapons. Oops.

Arpaio's antics have also resulted in Maricopa County being declared a human rights violator by Ireland and Iceland, blocking extraditions from those two countries. In the Irish case, the blocked extradition was of Father Patrick Colleary, an accused child molester.

One wonders if this year, the voters will finally realize that the man who is actually described on official county websites as "America's Toughest Sheriff" is a danger to himself and others.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Jordanian Royal Implicated in War Profiteering By Republican Insider

The New York Times reports on a scandal in which the Pentagon was overcharged on fuel deliveries to US forces in Iraq. The interesting part is not that a corrupt McCain fundraiser, Harry Sargeant III, was involved- it was the complicity of Mohammad al-Saleh, husband of Princess Alia Bint al-Hussein of Jordan, the older half-sister of King Abdullah II, who may have gotten the Jordanian state to block other bidders from making deliveries through its territory. And then, he apparently got burned.

I'm not holding my breath for a proper parliamentary investigation of this corruption of Jordan's state institutions.

To further complicate matters, Sargeant apparently had a third business partner, Mustafa Abu Naba'a, who "collected checks" from McCain campaign contributors. Mr. Abu Naba'a, who owns a third of the company supplying fuel to the Air Force, is a citizen of Jordan and the Dominican Republic, and therefore this activity may have violated campaign finance law.

Many of the donations collected by Mr. Abu Naba'a came from a single extended family, the Abdullahs, who live in western Riverside County in California. Abdullahs also donated to Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, who was reportedly a fraternity brother of Sargeant's in college.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/middleeast/17fuel.html?ref=us (excerpt of important part):

The contracting company, called the International Oil Trading Company, or I.O.T.C., was briefly in the news over the summer when a former partner filed a lawsuit against Mr. Sargeant in a Florida circuit court.

The former partner, a Jordanian named Mohammad al-Saleh, is a brother-in-law of King Abdullah II of Jordan. The court papers laid out his assertion that he obtained special governmental authorizations for the company to transport the fuel through Jordan and was then unlawfully forced out by Mr. Sargeant, who strongly disputed those allegations.

But the latest claims of impropriety by the company, presented by Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, go much further. Mr. Waxman uses e-mail messages, company documents, Pentagon reports and other information to make the case that Mr. Sargeant repeatedly received contracts to deliver the fuel even though his company was not the lowest bidder.

In one case, the letter from Mr. Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asserts that Mr. Sargeant’s company submitted the highest of six bids, but received the contract anyway. In fact, Pentagon contracting officers complained that the company’s prices were unreasonably high and initially said they could not justify giving the work to Mr. Sargeant.

But for reasons the company was never able to explain, Mr. Waxman’s letter indicates, no other American company was given an authorization to transport the fuel through Jordan. And when the United States Central Command declared that the need for the fuel was urgent, the Pentagon was forced to award the contract to Mr. Sargeant’s company.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Is Joe The Plumber Related to Charles Keating?

Joe Wurzelbacher, also known as "Joe the Plumber", has the same last name as Charles Keating's son-in-law Robert Wurzelbacher.

A Robert Wurzelbacher in the Cincinnati area was once a major contributor to Republican candidates. However, "Robert Wurzelbacher" died on January 10, 2004, according to the Kenwood Country Club. That would account for the lack of donations in this election cycle. This Wurzelbacher was married to a Dorothy, who gives her maiden name as "Schmitt" on a genealogy site. Since "Robert Wurzelbacher" is known to have been born in 1954 from the article in the New York Times on Keating's conviction, Robert and Dorothy may be the parents of the convicted Robert.

Breaking News: A guy in South Dakota is on this too!

There's another problem: Joe is only 33:

http://www.reunion.com/people-search-directory/L3/413639

Joe The Plumber Has No Internet Advertising?


This "Joe the Plumber" character John McCain referred to in the debate- real or not real?

Certainly a Joe Wurzelbacher exists, he is a person living in Ohio. There are mentions on the Internet of Wurzelbacher Brothers, a plumber at 11260 Colerain Avenue, Cincinnati OH 45252. Street view at this address depicted above does not show the sort of evidence a plumbing business making over $250,000 a year in profits (implying millions in revenue) would be likely to have. Like a sign. Or a single shred of Internet evidence that there is any such plumbing business at this address.

Maybe that's because this is the address of Jan Rich Kennels. Just look it up.

Anyway, this is claimed to be "Joe Wurzelbacher". MSNBC Claims to have contacted him and he lives "near Toledo". Toledo is four hours' drive north of Cincinnati, on the border with Michigan.

Barack Obama answers a question from plumber Joe Wurzelbacher in Holland, Ohio, last Sunday.

Privateeye.com shows a Joe Wurzelbacher in the Cincinnati area, and he might be connected with Joseph Wurzelbacher Construction:

12172 Stone Mill Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45251-4134, United States

This is a house. No street view is available.

Taliban Offensive Threatens Important Afghan Town

Image (click for full resolution): Lashkar Gah (31.58 N, 64.36 E), capital of Helmand Province, is one of the larger towns of southern Afghanistan, with a population of around 50 000. The image clearly shows a more spacious central portion built by American builders in the 1950s surrounded by more recently built neighborhoods. The town was constructed as part of a major irrigation project which included the canals in the irrigated area on the left. Notably, this is a flat desert area with no terrain advantages for guerrillas.

Various reports (including the New York Times) indicate that there is a major Taliban offensive aimed at the town of Lashkar Gah. The town lies in the southern desert of Afghanistan in what is claimed to be the world's greatest opium-producing region, Helmand Province, with over a thousand square kilometers of fields producing over a quarter of the world supply.

The reports indicate that twice in the last week, there were two attacks on the city, each involving several hundred fighters and lasting for several hours. Major urban assaults like this are rare in unconventional warfare because they are vulnerable to air strikes.

The centrality of the area to Afghan opium production suggests that this activity, which is by far the largest source of hard currency earnings in Afghanistan, is the target of the assualt. It is alleged that the industry is mostly controlled by close associates of President Hamid Karzai:

http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/36269459ACF51792872574C200509C8B?OpenDocument

Karzai versus the UKPNS
09/12/2008
By Musa Khan Jalalzai

[Printer Friendly Version]

President Hamid Karzai has recently blamed forces of the UK deployed in Helmand province of Afghanistan for the day to day growing Taliban insurgency of the country. Karzai has already indulged in a blame game with Pakistan. His relation with the warlords of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, in terms of business and family ties, has created trouble in the region. These warlords have links with the insurgent groups in the south.

The Times reported that Prime Minister Brown threatened Karzai to withdraw the British troops from southern Helmand province if Karzai took the steps of reappointing two provincial governors sacked for alleged dealings in the heroin trade. The former governor of Helmand, Shir Muhammad Akhundzada, is Karzai’s close friend who had accompanied him into Afghanistan on a motorbike in 2001. He has been deeply involved in drug trafficking while in 2003 several Western NGOs left the province fearing Shir Muhammad Akhundzada and his Taliban friends. In a recent interview, Karzai said Akhundzada’s alleged links to drugs could be overlooked. Karzai had repudiated Britain’s opposition to the return of Akhundzada.

Some Western observers believe that Akhundzada encourages Taliban against British forces. Talking to journalists in Kabul, Shir Muhammad Akhundzada claimed that while he was governor of Helmand for four years, Nato did not drop a single bomb on the province, no civilians were killed, and no districts fell to the Taliban. “If I were still there, I am sure things would be the same as before.”

Since the Akhundzada appointment Helmand became the major conduit for heroin trade from other provinces. Karzai and his government shared the blame for failing to tackle warlords. All major Western embassies have the evidence that Karzai was supporting drug trafficker and war criminals. There was a strong pressure on Karzai to remove Shir Muhammad Akhundzada from his post but Karzai refused.

In 2005, before the British forces were due to be deployed in Helmand, British Prime Minister warned the President that Britain would not deploy troops as long as Mullah Akhundzada remained as governor of the province. Karzai removed Akhundzada and appointed his younger brother there. Sher Mohammad’s ‘punishment’ was that he was brought to the senate, while his younger brother, Amir Mohammad Akhundzada, was left in Helmand as deputy governor. Mullah Sher Mohammad Akhundzada was always a cause of tribal disputes. During his time, his men abused their government positions and did a lot of damage. They lit a fire that nobody can put out now.”

Another warlord Noorzai, whose sister was married to Ahmad Wali Karzai is a big narco dealer and a close friend of the President as well. In Kabul, Western observer accused Noorzai of close links to drug traffickers. The New York Times, in one of its reports, revealed about Karzai’s allies’ involvement in drug trafficking, including Shir Muhammad Akhundzada, Wali Karzai, and Noorzai. Reports about President’s brother Ahmad Wali Karzai intensified in 2006 while US television network quoted US forces files describing how his brother receive money from drug traffickers.

Afghan intellectuals are of the opinion that Britain has rightly accused Karzai of being unsuccessful over the past six years. Karzai sees himself in a perilous position, so he is beginning to attack Britain. Evidence of higher quality Afghan heroin indicates that those running the labs are also getting assistance from outside ‘foreign consultants’ of sorts. Former senior US State Department counter-narcotics official, Schweich wrote in an article in The New York Times website that “narco-corruption went to the top of the Afghan government”.

The official alleged Karzai was reluctant to move against big drug lords in his political power base in the country’s south, where most opium is produced. Heroin experts from Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan are immigrating to Afghanistan, where there are jobs for highly-educated scientists willing to oversee heroin production. According to the Financial Times, “Christina Orguz, Afghanistan country director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said Afghanistan’s drug lords were behaving like businessmen and recruiting the best talent available. Afghanistan now supplies more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin”.

In Helmand, southern Afghanistan, reported a man was not in a position to pay his debt so he married off his daughter to an opium dealer who already had a wife and four children. What is worse was yet to come. Unable to withstand the callousness of life in her husband’s home, she grabbed the AK-47 from the policeman guarding the council meeting in the Grishk district of southern Helmand province and killed herself.

Hillary Mann Leverett, a former US National Security Council official for Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera that the US knew that government ministers in Afghanistan, including the minister of defence in 2002, were involved in drug trafficking. Drug lords in Afghanistan are more powerful. Those who oppose them are badly punished. The head of Afghanistan’s anti-drug court was shot and fatally wounded on his way to work in the capital, Kabul. Alim Hanif, the director and chief judge of the Central Narcotics Tribunal appeals court, had been leading a campaign to bring influential drug traffickers to court and punish them for their crimes.

Reuter reported on July 28, 2008 that corruption in Afghanistan is hobbling efforts to combat the booming opium trade with powerful drug lords evading justice by simply making a telephone call to friends in high places. A glance at the intensified ongoing Taliban-led militancy in both Afghanistan and Pakistan; and rising poppy cultivation in Afghanistan demonstrates the unpromising attribute of its adverse consequences in this region.

The nexus of terrorism and drug trafficking in Afghanistan is a firebrand in the way of the political, economic, and social transformation in the country. As the region’s core state, how Afghanistan builds a strong political and security framework by eliminating safe havens for terrorists and narco-traffickers is critical for regional stability for not only that country but also for its neighbours. Taliban taxes on opium harvests, heroin production, and drug shipments in Afghanistan helped finance their military operations against Nato and the Afghan forces. These taxes, however, also bestowed legitimacy on Afghan drug traffickers. The illegal business of opium and drugs has been turned to strengthening warlords, corrupting local officials, Taliban insurgency, and fomenting terror and instability throughout the country.

Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan have increased in 2008. Aid agencies were increasingly becoming targets. Karzai sometimes blame the UK for the day to day increasing Taliban insurgency and sometimes Pakistan and Iran for their involvement in Afghanistan.

The writer is Executive Editor of Daily Outlook Afghanistan and author of 156 books on terrorism, extremism, and human trafficking, Afghanistan, drug trafficking and foreign policy studies and is based in London, UK.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Pakistan, In Financial Trouble, Asks Iran For Oil

Pakistan is in deep financial crisis- this week they had their government bond rating dropped by rating agencies (to CCC+, a grade described as "junk").

Note that the sort of amounts Pakistan needs to keep from defaulting on its debts are pocket change in proportion to US military spending.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=140493

Sunday, October 12, 2008
Following talks between the visiting Iranian foreign minister, his Pakistan counterpart and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Iran has indicated it may be ready to offer an economic lifeline to Pakistan in the form of oil on deferred payments. Help of this kind is desperately sought by Pakistan, with its growing economic crisis having created a severe balance of payment problem. Analysts have warned the country could default on debt repayments unless it can quickly acquire $3 billion. Pakistan has already sought a similar oil facility from Saudi Arabia, and is now hoping for a positive response from these allies. The response from Iran, which has stated it is ready to go ahead with a project to pipe in gas from its fields to South Asia, even without India, has been positive. It has already offered oil on a deferment of three months. Pakistan has sought a longer time frame, for which permission is to be sought in Teheran.

The Iranians have thus offered hope that Pakistan's most immediate problems can be eased, enabling it to stay afloat. The economic crisis, causing stocks to plummet, has already led to fears the Karachi Stock Exchange may be shut down. But beyond this, the overture by Teheran also indicates a readiness to increase cooperation. This is important, for a stable regional situation and good ties with neighbours are crucial for Pakistan. The elected government has already stated it is aware of this. The early success in diplomacy with Iran suggests it is also ready to work towards this goal.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

WTF? Russia To Lend €4 billion to ICELAND To Support Oligarchs?

This is totally crazy. However, given that another article I found claims Russians on the Forbes billionaire list have lost $230 billion (!) in the last couple of months, there is serious crisis. One wonders, though, about whether this could destabilize the Russian regime. While oligarchs are very important, Putin to some extent gained power by demonstrating that the Kremlin could force these people to pay their taxes and revive state institutions like the military, the schools, the vast infrastructure that delivers needed supplies to remote Arctic and Siberian populations...

Part of:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4909993.ece

A number of British-based Russian oligarchs linked to Icelandic banks are also understood to have had their holdings seized. Russia, which began talks this week to give the Icelandic Government a €4 billion (£3.2 billion) bailout, has strong economic ties to the island nation.

McCain Takes An Anti-Midwestern Tone At Waukesha Rally


McCain and Palin made an appearance described in the article below at a rally in Waukesha, a suburb of Milwaukee. The angry crowd was definitely not the sort of people who appeal to Midwestern voters. They're so crazy that they claim the media treats Obama "like Britney Spears", not noticing how mean spirited that treatment was. Leave Britney alone!

The antics of this crowd illuminate why Obama is sweeping the region, with McCain only having a solid lead in the western Great Plains states of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. Even North Dakota may be in play. The basic problem is that the angry tone is not something that appeals to Midwestern voters- the local culture prefers leaders who look like responsible adults. Barack Obama is always unflappable in public. This is a big part of why Iowans preferred him to Hillary Clinton, who has a less "cool" style. Since this rally was in Wisconsin, I am also reminded of the state's eventual rejection of Joseph McCarthy. He looked too out of control to appeal to Midwestern voters.

I think that the McCain campaign may have a theory that they can appeal to people who were displaced in the 1960s and 1970s by racial confict in major Midwestern metropolitan areas. Certainly this population exists, but it is not as big as you might think, and trying to appeal in this way to those voters will cost you bigtime in the countryside, small cities, and among people who have no adult memories of those days. To someone my age, the sight of the lost city of Detroit does not provoke thoughts of anger at the "niggers who did that"- it instead makes one wonder of the folly of the white people who fled in panic when forced to confront the errors of the past.

Race was not the only area of irrationality leading to destruction. In the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Diego Rivera mural "Detroit Industry", depicted above (click on it for a larger image), shows the dream of those who built the city, only for it to be devastated in a moment of craziness over race and finished off by decades of insanity over energy policy. In reflection over the destruction of this dream, one thinks of the successors to Edsel Ford, who hired Rivera to paint "Detroit Industry" and who presided over the settlement of the often violent disputes between his father and the UAW, who decided on basing thir worldview on anger toward those like Ralph Nader, who displayed the death wish of the American auto industry back in the 1960s. If the city is ever to work again, we must reject the negative thoughts of those who came before us.

The downtown site of "Detroit Industry" is now surrounded by miles and miles of half-abandoned city. In the last twenty years or so, there has been some recovery in Detroit. In many cases, the lead has been taken by Arab and Latino immigrants who are not hampered by the negative belief system of the city that was. We can only hope that the white community, still economically dominant in the vast suburbs that house those who fled the lost city in the 1960s, can follow their lead in forgetting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/09/AR2008100903169.html

Anger Is Crowd's Overarching Emotion at McCain Rally



Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 10, 2008; Page A04

WAUKESHA, Wis., Oct. 9 -- There were shouts of "Nobama" and "Socialist" at the mention of the Democratic presidential nominee. There were boos, middle fingers turned up and thumbs turned down as a media caravan moved through the crowd Thursday for a midday town hall gathering featuring John McCain and Sarah Palin.

"It is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hits, there's a soft spot," said James T. Harris, a local radio talk show host, who urged the Republican nominee to use Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and others against him.

"We have the good Reverend Wright. We have [the Rev. Michael L.] Pfleger. We have all of these shady characters that have surrounded him," Harris bellowed. "We have corruption here in Wisconsin and voting across the nation. I am begging you, sir. I am begging you. Take it to him."

The crowd of thousands roared its approval.

In recent days, a campaign that embraced the mantra of "Country First" but is flagging in the polls and scrambling for a way to close the gap as the nation's economy slides into shambles has found itself at the center of an outpouring of raw emotion rare in a presidential race.


"There's 26 days and people are looking at the very serious possibility that there's a chance that Obama might get in, and they don't like that," said Ian Eltrich, 28, as he filed out of the crowded sports complex.

"I'm mad! I'm really mad!" another man said, taking the microphone and refusing to surrender it easily, even when McCain tried to agree with him.

"I'm not done. Lemme finish, please," he said after a standing ovation. "When you have Obama, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there going to run the country, we have to have our head examined.

"It's time that you two represent the rest of us. So go get 'em."

The crowd burst into loud chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

Standing at the center of the crowd, McCain and Palin drew on the crowd's energy as they repeatedly trained their fire on Obama.

"Senator Obama has a clear radical, far-left, pro-abortion record," McCain said after being asked about the issue.

The answer prompted a shower of boos from the crowd members. They booed again when he mentioned William Ayers, who bombed U.S. facilities to protest the Vietnam War as part of the domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground. They booed again at the mention of Rep. Barney Frank, a liberal from Massachusetts.

McCain spends most of his time at his rallies and town hall meetings lambasting his rival, often calling him a "co-conspirator" with congressional Democrats in what he argues are the seeds of the financial crisis at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"Will you assure us," one woman asked, "that, as president, you will take immediate action to investigate, prosecute and name the names of the people actually responsible?"

"I will," McCain answered.

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"The same people that are now claiming credit for this rescue are the same ones that were willing co-conspirators in causing this problem that it is," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd. "You know their names. You will know more of their names."

The crowds that show up for his rallies these days appear to have little appetite for the talk of bipartisan compromise that had been at the heart of his message around the Republican National Convention. During a rally outside a small airport in Mosinee, Wis., on Thursday, McCain said that "it's time we come together, Democrats and Republicans to work together. That's my record. I'll reach across the aisle."

The crowd stood silent.

At the town hall gathering here, McCain praised Harris for his "courage" in speaking his mind. But, heedful of the economic chaos gripping the country, McCain sought to steer away, at least briefly, from attacks on Obama's character and integrity.

"Yes, I'll do that," he said of the request to "take it to" Obama. "But I also, my friends, want to address the greatest financial challenge of our lifetime with a positive plan for action that Senator Obama and I have. We need to restore hope and trust and confidence in America and have Americans know that our best days are ahead of us. That's the future and strength and beauty of America."

As the crowd filed out, several said they agreed with the man who said he was mad. Others went further.

"No, I'm not mad, I'm pissed," said Joan Schmitz, who owns a plumbing company here. She said she was frustrated with polls showing Obama surging, McCain's performance in a Tuesday night debate, Obama himself, the media, and the liberal group ACORN, which she said was registering voters fraudulently.

Noting Obama's connections with Ayers, she said that "if it was a Republican, it would be nonstop," referring to what she said was the media ignoring the controversial acquaintance.

"I can't stand to look at him, I don't trust him. I don't like the circle of friends he keeps, I don't like his policies," Schmitz said of Obama. "I'm pissed off by it. I'm beyond mad. How is he climbing up in the polls?"

On the way into the event, the Republican Party of Wisconsin handed out fliers reading "Your Vote Is Being Stolen," an anti-ACORN leaflet that concluded, "Why is vote fraud allowed? Vote fraud is allowed since it benefits Democrats."

The crowd showed equal disdain for the media, fueled by comments from Palin, who encouraged the Republican supporters to take the campaign's message around the media. "I can't pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrel," she said. "It's dangerous territory whenever I suggest the mainstream media isn't asking all the questions."

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That message was clearly shared among the crowd. Mike Payne, who traveled from Madison, Wis., for the rally, rejected the idea that McCain's supporters are angry, preferring to use the word "frustrated."

"It might have something to do with you guys," he told a reporter.

"It's not anger at all. It's frustration. There's millions of people around the country that think like we do. You guys refuse to acknowledge that, and you insult our intelligence by misreporting the information. You are treating [Obama] like he's Britney Spears and covering him like he's Paris Hilton, instead of the next president of the United States, potentially."

McCain advisers dismissed the crowd's angry tone as an exception and not representative of most of the campaign's events. And they noted that those gathered seemed most upset by the media's handling of the contest, and simply wanted McCain to be more aggressive.

They also noted that many of McCain's events are attended by liberal protesters, who often yell epithets and hold angry signs as McCain's bus drives by. And they recalled angry words from Obama at a rally in Las Vegas last month, in which he urged supporters to talk to their friends and neighbors, saying "I want you to argue with them and get in their face."

More Wall Street Turmoil Tomorrow- Major CDS Auction

Tomorrow an opaque financial process will unfold in which $400 billion in "credit default swaps" will make default payouts related to bonds sold by Lehman Brothers. Despite the fact that the auction is the biggest financial thing scheduled to happen in the world tomorrow, there is almost nothing about it in Google News. A search of Bloomberg actually doesn't turn up anything. The CDS auction is apparently a closed process whose results will appear after it is over. Looking around for more stuff on this multitrillion-dollar financial market is crazy. The market index for these things, LCDX, was actually first introduced on May 22, 2007, and Google has only 16,700 hits on the search term "LCDX". For comparison, Google shows over twice that many hits for "Bogotol", a town of about 24,000 people located in western Siberia about 2,000 miles east of Moscow. You know, it would be a good idea if massive financial processes like this actually could be better documented.

This article at least tells us when the process is going to take place:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSN0841811720081008

FACTBOX-Lehman CDS settlement auction timeline

Wed Oct 8, 2008 4:16pm EDT

NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The value of credit default swaps backed by defaulted Lehman Brothers bonds will be set on Friday, with protection sellers expected to face massive losses of around 90 percent of the insurance they sold.

Bondholders have seen their investments virtually wiped out by Lehman's bankruptcy filing on September 15, with most of the defaulted bonds which will be used to settle the swaps trading in the area of 12-to-13 cents on the dollar, according to MarketAxess.

The auction to settle credit default swaps on this debt will likely be the second-largest settlement of the contracts in the $55 trillion market, following an auction to settle swaps on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae on Monday.

Twenty-two dealers will participate in the auctions, which will determine how much protection sellers will recover after paying out the insurance. The timeline for the auctions follows, according to JPMorgan.

9:45 a.m.-10 a.m. Auction participants will submit bids and offers for the debt backing the credit default swaps, which will be used to determine the initial recovery rate of the swaps.

10:30 a.m. Auction administrators Creditex and Markit will publish the initial recovery price and the open interest for the contracts will be published. The open interest reflects the amount of bids and offers that have been made, and will show if there are more buyers than sellers, or vice versa.

12:45 p.m. -1 p.m. Participating dealers will submit limit orders for the debt on behalf of themselves and their clients to fill the open interest

2 p.m. The final price of the auction will be published. (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Capitalist Dogs Scrap For Wachovia

The headline is based on a headline from MIM Notes, a crazy communist newspaper for the 1980s and 1990s. Sadly, according to Wikipedia, it has ceased to exist. The original headline was "Imperialist Dogs Scrap for Power". I think it was about the Clinton impeachment.

Apparently, Wachovia, a semidefunct "financial institution", is the subject of a hot dispute between Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Both companies bid for Wachovia, and Citigroup claims an exclusivity agreement did not allow the Wells Fargo bid. Citigroup now calims they are abandoning their bid and are instead going to sue for $60 billion. Apparently, these guys are really looking aggressively for cash. To add to the zaniness, the National Republican Congressional Committee has received a last-minute $8 million loan from Wachovia at a time when they are lending to few others. The loan is to be used to support flagging Republican campaigns for seats in the House of Representatives. Given that the US government is a party to either deal, putting in bailout funds to limit losses to the buyer from Wachovia's poorly understood liabilities, there are massive conflicts of interest at work here.

The story could also have relevance to election races in North Carolina, where plummeting Republican fortunes connected with the financial crisis and local shortages of gasoline could lead to loss of elections for governor and US Senate, as well as the loss of at least one House seat, which happens to include Wachovia's headquarters in downtown Charlotte.

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/10/06/daily49.html

Citigroup cedes Wachovia to Wells Fargo, but will seek $60B in damages

Triangle Business Journal - by John Downey Senior Staff Writer

Wells Fargo & Co. has apparently won the battle for Wachovia Corp.

Citigroup has withdrawn from negotiations brokered by federal regulators that sought a compromise to the competing bids from Wells and Citigroup.

The issue is likely to go to court. But Citigroup says it will no longer seek to block Wells’ proposed $15.1 billion purchase of Wachovia.

However, Citigroup does plan to seek damages for Wachovia’s decision to choose Wells over an earlier agreement it had made to sell its banking operations to Citigroup for $2.1 billion.

“We did not seek the Wachovia transaction; Wachovia brought it to us,” says Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit in a prepared statement. “Our focus remains on capitalizing on our global strengths. We will continue to apply the same discipline we employed in this and other recent transactions to future acquisition opportunities.”

Wells says it has immediate no comment. Wachovia says it is preparing a press release of its own.

Christina Pretto of Citigroup says the bank will seek the $60 billion in damages it has claimed from the deal gone sour. That case will proceed, she says, in New York Supreme Court. She could not say when hearings might be held on Citigroup’s claims.

But with Citigroup no longer trying to enjoin Wells and Wachovia from going ahead with the deal, the case will no longer be on the fast track. And cases in federal court and North Carolina state courts over efforts to block Citigroup’s interference with the Wells deal appear unnecessary following Citigroup’s announcement.

The Wachovia-Citigroup deal announced Sept. 29 included an exclusivity agreement that prevented Wachovia from negotiating an acquisition by anyone else.

On Oct. 2, Wachovia got an offer from Wells. That deal called for the sale of the entire bank holding company to Wells for $15.1 billion. The Wachovia board approved that deal early Oct. 3.

Wells had insisted there is no bar to its deal with the Charlotte-based bank.

Wachovia spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown released a statement Sunday defending the Wells deal. Wachovia insisted the agreement, which involved no federal guarantees, was proper and valid. And Wachovia said it remained open to a new offer from Citigroup.

Federal regulators first stood by the original deal. Citigroup went to the New York Supreme Court on Oct. 4, getting a temporary injunction blocking the Wells deal.

Additional actions were filed in state and federal courts over the next two days. On Oct. 6, the banks agreed to suspend the legal battle to try and work out an agreement among all the parties.

The Wells deal was generally preferred by bank employees and in Charlotte. Wells said it would keep the bank intact. Because Wells has few operations on the East Coast, there were likely to be minimal job losses below the corporate level. And a promise to make Charlotte Wells’ headquarters for East Coast operations took some of the sting out of the sale of Wachovia. The price offered by Wells was also seven times what Citigroup had proposed.

And Wells is the stronger institution, says Tony Plath, who follows the banking industry at UNC Charlotte's Belk College of Business.

Wells has not been hit as hard as many of the nation's large banks by the mortgage crisis. And it's generally on firmer financial ground, Plath says.

He believes one reason federal regulators were so eager to pair Citigroup with at least a part of Wachovia was to shore up the New York bank and give the markets confidence about its operations. And Plath says Wells has better retail banking operations than Citigroup.

Citigroup has been a large investment bank that got into branch banking to strengthen its capital base with depoists, which are an inexpensive source of cash for its investment-banking operations. Wells and Wachovia both have investment-banking arms. But both are primarily branch banks.

If Wells combines with Wachovia’s 3,300 branches across the nation, it would rival, if not surpass, Charlotte's Bank of America Corp. as the country’s largest retail bank.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Nation's Second Largest County Resists Evictions

Cook County, which includes Chicago, has declared that it will not evict tenants from properties foreclosed from the owner without an affidavit that the occupants have been notified. In the case of notification, tenants have 120 days to leave.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWQSAw_s2aqqnJS5Ib0-PbD24H5gD93MJAO00


Chicago's Cook County won't evict in foreclosures

CHICAGO (AP) — The sheriff here said Wednesday that he's ordering his deputies to stop evicting people from foreclosed properties because many people his office has helped throw out on the street are renters who did nothing wrong.

"We will no longer be a party to something that's so unjust," a visibly angry Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said at a news conference.

"We have to be sure that when we are doing this — and we are destroying some people's lives — we better be darned sure we're talking about the right people," Dart said.

Dart said he believes he's the first sheriff in a major metropolitan area to stop participating in foreclosure evictions, and the publisher of a national foreclosure database said he's probably right.

"I haven't heard of any other sheriff unilaterally deciding to stop foreclosures," said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of the Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, Inc. He said the sheriff in Philadelphia helped push a moratorium on foreclosure sales, but that involved owner-occupied homes and not renters.

Dart said that from now on, banks will have to present his office with a court affidavit that proves the home's occupant is either the owner or has been properly notified of the foreclosure proceedings.

Illinois law requires that renters be notified that their residence is in foreclosure and they will be evicted in 120 days, but Dart indicated that the law has been routinely ignored.

He talked about tenants who dutifully pay their rent, then leave one morning for work only to have authorities evict them and put their belongings on the curb while they are gone.

By the time they get home, "The meager possessions they have are gone," he said. "This is happening too often."

In many cases, he said, tenants aren't even aware that their homes have fallen into foreclosure.

This week, an attorney asked that Dart be held in contempt when his deputies did not evict tenants after determining they were not the owners and did not know about their landlord's financial problems.

A judge denied the attorney's request, Dart's office said, and Dart said that after talking to the Cook County state's attorney's office, he is confident he is on solid legal ground.

"My job as sheriff is to follow court orders, absolutely," he said. "But I'm also in charge of making sure justice is being done here and it is clear that justice is not being done here."

The state's attorney's office said it would not comment on conversations with Dart because his office is a client.

Foreclosures have skyrocketed around the country in recent months and Dart said the number of foreclosure evictions in Cook County could more than double from the 2006 tally of 1,771. This year the county is on pace to see 4,500 such evictions, he said.

Dart warned that because the eviction process on foreclosures can take more than a year, the number is sure to climb even higher.

"From all the numbers we have seen, we know (they) are going to be exploding," he said.

Sharga said there are more than 1 million U.S. homes in foreclosure — with about a third of that number occupied by someone other than the owner.

"That number will continue to get bigger," he said.

Dart said he believes banks are not doing basic research to determine that the people being evicted are, in fact, the homeowners.

He said that in a third of the 400 to 500 foreclosure evictions his deputies had been carrying out every month, the residents are not those whose names are on the eviction papers.

Nor, he said, are banks notifying tenants that the homes they're renting are in foreclosure. He added that when banks do learn the correct names of those living on foreclosed-upon property, their names often are simply added to eviction papers.

"They just go out and get an order the next day and throw these people's names on there," Dart said. "Whether they (tenants) have been notified, God only knows."

Evictions for nonpayment of rent will continue, Dart said, explaining that those cases already have gone to court, his office is confident the people being evicted are who the landlord says they are, and there is no question the tenants are aware of what is going on.

Dart said it's only fair for banks to give occupants of a foreclosed property adequate notice before forcing them out.

"You are talking about a lot of people in rental situations living paycheck to paycheck," he said. "To think they are sitting on a pool of money for an up-front deposit, security deposit, is foolishness."

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Arr! Kenyan Parliament Demands Answers from Defense Minister

This video claims that the defense committee of the Kenyan Parliament has called the Defense Minister to testify on Tuesday (Oct. 13?) before their inquiry on the tanks allegedly purchased by Kenya which were intercepted off the coast of Somalia by pirates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKdc83o1d7Y

Arr! Pirates Better Watch Out For the Somaliland Navy!

The Republic of Somaliland, a state which has approximately 3.5 million people in a territory the size of New York state, has decided not to wait for international recognition to build a navy.

This video shows off their gunships. Apparently, this is one part of Somalia that has taken steps to defend its coastline against illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I3YNkrOMN4

I don't understand why the rest of the world doesn't just recognize these guys as an independent nation. Apparently the attitude is that there is a line in the sand around Somalia and we aren't going to allow anyone to be recognized until they conquer all of it.

Arr! Kenyan TV Confirms Tanks Actually Bound For Sudan

This is pretty solid. A video by Kenya's NTV shows that there is no evidence that Kenya has sent anyone to be trained on using or servicing T-72 tanks, and they actually show a picture of a previous shipment of tanks under tarps with the muzzles sticking out loaded onto a train of flatbed cars making its way through the bush. They then actually show the tanks loaded onto tractor-trailers (what an overload!) and slowly driven, undraped, with heavy military escort. They report that the tanks were driven in this way to the Sudanese border from the railroad at Eldoret, a distance of over 300 miles. There is no fucking way they could have kept this a secret--thousands of Kenyans must have seen the military convoys and wondered what was going on. Some of them might have even noticed the tanks were an unusual model.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqo5oZO-V4