Housing values since 1890s to now

Here's the blog from Nouriel Roubini which refers to this.

Man using walker deemed not a terrorist

71-Year-Old Gitmo Detainee Released:

The oldest detainee at Guantanamo Bay — an Afghan man who is at least 71 and hobbled around the U.S. prison in Cuba using a walker — has been sent home, his lawyer said Monday.

And I am sure this poor old soul will get a lot less attention than that media darling John Karr who was released from the "who killed JonBenet" circus.

More on the man:

Khan was not charged with a crime and Ryan [his attroney] said the government never said why he was detained.

"We couldn't figure out why he was there," Ryan said. "He could barely walk and he could barely hear."

Khan told his lawyers he believes he's around 78, but doesn't know his exact age. He is at least 71, according to military records obtained by The Associated Press.

The coming economic collapse...

army.mil

I've been subscribing to the housing bubble theory for a while. That when the stock market bubble collapsed, there was only a mild recession (lasted 2 quarters) despite the tremendous loss of wealth. The money, I speculate, went to another bubble -- the real estate bubble, which is about to burst, with dramatic consequences for the U.S. and the world. There aren't many economists who come out and say this (although many academics do). Stephen Roach did, and then changed his mind. Now, Nouriel Roubini follows with his thoughts on a recession:

I have analyzed in detail in my last blog why we will soon have a housing related recession; these views have been widely picked in the press, most prominently by Paul Krugman in his Friday column in the NYT. While, as Krugman correctly points out, I may be the only “well-known” economist who is arguing that we will have a housing-led recession, many other very prominent economists – including Krugman himself as well as Ed Leamer (who calls a soft landing scenario a “fantasy”), Jim Hamilton (see also here) and Bob Shiller (who predicted the tech bust stock of 2000 and is now predicting a housing bust) – are now of the view that there are serious risk of a housing market bust that could then have macro consequences.

Will the "strong dollar" finally fall? If it does, it could have beneficial effects on the trade deficit, but disastrous effects on the country's ability to borrow, not to mention loss of equity for all the global investment in the dollar. A "dollar bubble" burst? Hurting the entire world? Nasty!

The newest corporate kitty...

Iraq came and went...when people looked the other way, Halliburton, Bechtel and others happily raided the public's money to build infrastructure at cost-plus inflated prices that the military with public's money had destroyed.

Then, it was Katrina...people died, there was an outcry, the corporates came and raided the public trough again.

Now, the latest opportunity for looting from the public is "border security." Little Bush turned Boy King after 9/11, is probably going to push for millions of dollars to be diverted once again to "secure" the border with Mexico. [Timing is everything: 9/11 anniversary is the perfect opportunity to ask Congress to fund these projects] Secure from what? From agri-businesses making enormous profits off paying substandard benefits to illegal workers? Or everyday Americans from using the labor line to get some cheap Mexican muscle to get their home remodeling projects done?

The usual parties of the military industrial complex are in play for this money:

The Bush administration is expected next month to choose an industry consortium to erect a high-tech security shield along the U.S. borders, launching one of the federal government's most ambitious public-works projects in years.

The Department of Homeland Security calls the proposed Secure Border Initiative Net the 'most comprehensive effort in the nation's history' to gain control of more than 6,000 miles of border with Mexico and Canada as well as 2,000 miles of coastline.

SBInet is a centerpiece of President Bush's efforts to fortify the porous U.S.-Mexico border at a time when Congress is locked in a struggle to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Administration officials say they intend to proceed with the security net regardless of the outcome of the debate over immigration legislation.

The multibillion-dollar undertaking has ignited an intensely fought contract battle among industry teams headed by four leading defense companies - Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon - and Ericsson, the Swedish-based telecommunications giant with U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas.

height of stupidity?

Macaca nemestrina
wanprc.org

When Virginia's incumbent Senator George Allen was campaigning, an aide from his Democratic opponent Jim Webb's campaign, followed him around videotaping him. The aide, S.R. Sidarth is an American of Indian origin, born in Virginia. He had introduced himself to Allen before taping him. Not only does Sidharth capture Allen making a racist remark, the moronic Senator actually makes it on film while addressing Sidharth and referring to him as "macaca." Worse, he prefaces his racist remarks by saying he wants to run a positive campaign. I mean, how dumb can you get. Capitol Hill Blue says this is nothing new, and the Daily Show has a field day with it.

Amnesty Intl: Israel committed war crimes

Qana massacre
yalibnan.com

Amnesty International issued a report that says:

First-hand information gathered by recent Amnesty International research missions to Lebanon and Israel points to an Israeli policy of deliberate destruction of Lebanese civilian infrastructure during the recent conflict.

And also that:

The Israeli Air Force launched more than 7,000 air attacks on about 7,000 targets in Lebanon between 12 July and 14 August, while the Navy conducted an additional 2,500 bombardments. The attacks, though widespread, particularly concentrated on certain areas. An estimated 1,183 people died, about one third of whom have been children, 4,054 people were injured and 970,000 Lebanese people have been displaced.

Compare that with 44 Israeli civilians dead. 44 Israeli civilians on one side, 1183 Lebanese on the other with a third of those children. The facts speak for themselves that if it is a terrorist who targets innocent people, Israel has killed far more innocent civilians in this war. Its claims that this was collateral damage rings hollow in the face of this AI report.

The height of idiocy...

uncyclopedia.org

Sometimes, something is so obvious that it would insult the reader for me to write about it. Like if I were to headline that there was sectarian violence in Iraq. Or that innocent Iraqis had been sexually abused and tortured in Abu Ghraib. Or that 2+2 is 4. Or that President Bush is, well, a man whose skills are better utilized perhaps in a line manager's job at the local Burger King. Assuming he would be OK not taking long vacations of course.

I've refrained from picking on President Bush because that is so overdone it is boring and tiresome (not to mention giving too much power to this man), but one is so aghast when one reads and listens to what this man has to say-- as this exchange shows -- that I had to write (the audio is also worth listening to).

REPORTER: A lot of the consequences you mentioned for pulling out seem like maybe they never would have been there if we hadn't gone in. How do you square all of that?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I square it, because -- imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who would -- who had relations with Zarqawi. Imagine what the world would be like with him in power. The idea is to try to help change the Middle East.

Now, look, I didn’t -- part of the reason we went into Iraq was -- the main reason we went into Iraq at the time was we thought he had weapons of mass destruction. It turns out he didn't, but he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. But I also talked about the human suffering in Iraq, and I also talked the need to advance a freedom agenda. And so my question -- my answer to your question is, is that -- imagine a world in which Saddam Hussein was there, stirring up even more trouble in a part of the world that had so much resentment and so much hatred that people came and killed 3,000 of our citizens.

You know, I've heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived, and then, you know, kind of that we're going to stir up the hornet's nest theory. It just -- just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.

REPORTER: What did Iraq have to do with that?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?

REPORTER: The attack on the World Trade Center?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- Iraq -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.

Richard Heinberg on a possible Iran attack...

idioteca.it

Will the White House attack Iran before November to preserve a Republican majority in Congress? What is the Shia-Sunni divide in middle east politics, and how do the protagonists see this? Full article here. Excerpted below:

In discussing the likely scope of the air campaign, [Terence] Ward foresees a bombing lasting two weeks, targeting 1,000 sites including sea ports, missile defense systems, military bases, airports, industries, and 20 nuclear facilities.

Iran’s response is not hard to guess. The nation has hundreds of undeclared dock and port facilities along its Persian Gulf coast. The Iranian Navy recently conducted exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, in which a thousand small Iranian boats simulated attacks on American ships. The Strait is the world’s only access point for millions of barrels per day of OPEC oil. The passage of tankers through this narrow waterway would almost certainly be interrupted for days, weeks, and perhaps months if hostilities erupted.

An attack on Tehran would also unleash an enormous backlash against the US in Shia areas of Iraq, possibly making the American presence in that country untenable. The Iranians’ capabilities in this regard have not been lost on US military leaders. According to Ward, from American military leaders’ perspective this is a mission from hell. The Pentagon brass are uncertain what targets to attack, because American and European intelligence agencies have found no specific evidence of clandestine activities or hidden facilities. Thus it would be virtually impossible to gain confirmation of the effectiveness of air strikes in eliminating Iran’s nuclear program. Recently, General Pace, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apparently forced the White House to agree not to use nuclear weapons in its planned bombing campaign. This rebellion by the military has infuriated the White House.
Ward also provided a helpful perspective on the Shia-Sunni divide in Middle East. He noted that the bulk of oil reserves on the planet lie in Shia territory:

The Shia of Saudi Arabia would love to have the same control over their oil revenues as their Shia brothers in Iraq. Long oppressed by the Sunni Wahhabi rulers, these Shia go on pilgrimage to Iran and will react in subtle and overt ways if Iran is attacked. Bahrain is over 95% Shia and has experienced unrest before along the Shia/Sunni divide. Dubai is a large center of Persian-speakers and Iranian influence. Kuwait is also 30% Shia. In Aramco and KOC, the Shia vastly represent the local skilled labor force. An incident like the attempt on the Abqaiq collection stations by al-Qaeda operatives is not out of the question.

Ward pointed out that the Saudi and Jordanian monarchies speak openly of a radical “Shia crescent” across the Middle East, and that both ruling families would support a US strike against Iran. The Shia-dominated government of Iraq strikes fear in the hearts of Saudi leaders because they know it emboldens Shias in the Saudi oil-rich Eastern Province of al-Hassa. It is the emergence of Iran as a regional power that is their principal concern, not Israel.
Southern Lebanon is Shia majority, and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is a member of the Alawite Shia sect. The alliance between Hezbollah and the Syrian regime is strong, and Iran has provided monetary and military assistance to Hezbollah for decades. Thus the current conflict in southern Lebanon carries a deep resonance across the region.
Ward also notes:

Many Sunnis view the US and Shia cooperation in Iraq as a conspiracy against them—a “Wahhabi containment policy.” The profound conviction among much of the Arab world today, including the Saudi royal family, is that the U.S. plans to do the same to Saudi Arabia that they have engineered in Iraq. Like Iraq, the theory goes, Saudi Arabia would be divided into three parts. The moderate Hashemites of Jordan would regain their historic control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina; autonomous Saudi Shia would control the oil-laden Eastern Province; and the Wahhabis would be left baking in the sands of the Nejad Desert.

Thus the bombing of Iran could trigger wider chaos in the region, provoking not only temporary oil shortages and a global recession, but a wholesale reconfiguration of the Middle East in ways difficult to foresee.

My new hero

latimes.com

I had predicted in a previous post that, come the 9/11 anniversary, BushCo and the GOP congressional mob would go hysterical over the terrorist threat and wrap themselves in the flag to justify creating new laws to legitimize both the fascist warrantless spy program as well as the "what-Geneva-convention?" military tribunals.

Anna Diggs Taylor, a US District Court judge in Detroit, by ruling against the spy program has likely proved me wrong and I love her for that.

This is because she has ruled the warrantless spy program unconstitutional by stating

that the wiretapping program violates the 1st and 4th Amendments to the Constitution, which respectively protect free speech and prohibit unlawful searches. She also held that the program, formally known as the Terrorist Surveillance Program and run by the National Security Agency, violates the federal Administrative Procedures Act and the separation-of-powers doctrine.

Woo, hoo! Well, it may be too early to celebrate, but hopefully, she has closed the door on any congressional action between Sep 11 and the start of a new (hopefully-Democratic-controlled) congressional term. Congress cannot make any laws in violation of the Constitution, so unless the appeal is upheld, it may be beddy-bye time for the program...unless of course, the Dems cave.

Bush's reaction?

"I strongly disagree with that decision, strongly disagree. That’s why I instructed the Justice Department to appeal immediately. And I believe our appeals will be upheld.”

“We believe, strongly believe, it’s constitutional,” the president added. “And if Al Qaeda is calling into the United States, we want to know why they’re calling.”

The same old idiotic "Al Qaeda-calling" routine...when he knows pretty well he can get a warrant for that with the FISA courts anytime, and can even get the warrant after the fact. Chimp on a treadmill.

And the RNC headlined this ruling as:

"Liberal Judge Backs Dem Agenda to Weaken National Security."

Sore as always...and mean as hell.

Destroy, then Rebuild

latimes.com

The same pattern as Iraq: first, destroy everything -- hey, we need to use up those "smart" bombs -- then, rebuild everything. Either way, the Lockeed's and Halliburton's benefit. Money gets channeled from the U.S. public to favored private companies. Meanwhile millions die from preventable causes like diarrhoea.

The LA Times reports that the same rebuilding is being planned for Lebanon:

The Bush administration is scrambling to assemble a plan to help rebuild Lebanon, hoping that by competing with Hezbollah for the public's favor it can undo the damage the war has inflicted on its image and goals for the Middle East.

Gee Swell, compete with Iran and Syria in seeing who can do the most destruction, and then again with rebuilding. Having BushCo in charge of marketing the U.S. image is like using Mel Gibson to market Kosher food.

Onward to Iran through Lebanon

uchicago.edu

Seymour Hersh writes in the New Yorker what many people perhaps had suspected all along:

The Bush Administration, however, was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah’s heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel’s security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preëmptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground.

If this was planned well in advance by the U.S. and Israel, it now becomes obvious why Syria has been given the cold shoulder after its help with interrogating suspected Al Qaeda terrorists after 9/11.

Perhaps, Rafik Hariri's death was arranged just so the Syrian army would leave Lebanon. Leading the way for Israel to take one of the periodic Hezbollah cross-border attacks and use it as rationale for an escalation. Once Beirut was bombed and Hezbollah retaliated by firing Katyusha rockets into Israel, Israeli civilians got behind the government in full support. Giving Israel the green light to do a full aerial bombardment of Lebanon.

The LA Times had a story about how Israel was struggling in this war, and that aerial bombardment was absolutely the wrong strategy. Not only was it ineffective, it only served to highlight to the world, Israel's cavalier attitude to the loss of Lebanese civilian lives.

In a sense, the U.N. ceasefire resolution was needed as much by Israel (and the U.S.) in terms of saving face -- or at least having time to wipe the poo off their faces -- as by Lebanon in terms of staunching even more loss of civilian losses.

Fascism and Islam

You may say Bush should know about fascism, which in its most generic form means a totalitarian consolidation of state and corporate power. But really, why indeed did he say:

this nation is at war with Islamic fascists

I mean really, are we even at war? And are our opponents Islamic fascists?

Using the reductional adjective Islamic to describe terrorists (or fascists) would be fair if the phrase oil-based were used to similarly preface any mention of U.S. mideast policy. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out the connection between the two.

I think fascism was deliberately introduced in his speech. Not only does it mollify the talk-show mullahs and the Fox News clerics who have for a while referred to terrorists -- and for that matter insurgents and probably everyone who opposes the U.S. -- as "islamo-fascists," it has a more sinister connotation. Timed during Israel's invasion of Lebanon, it draws a giant circle around Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraqi insurgents, the states of Iran and Syria and probably all suspicious-looking Muslim men and draws the Fuhrer's mustache on every one of their upper lips, as if to say,

Be afraid, very afraid and let us take the strong measures needed to protect you.

Tantrum by the Los Angeles Times

beyondchron.org

Apparently the powers that be, want Lopez Obrador to quitely step aside from his presidential bid. Much like Bush v Gore, we have a country which is divided in its choice of president. Calderon has eked out a narrow advantage of 0.57% a difference that Lopez Obrador has every right to contest and demand a recount. Not so says the Los Angeles Times:

The tribunal could still call for a broader review, but Mexican law is wary of full recounts lest the election-day work of those conscripted ballot-counting citizens be undermined.

Bah Humbug! I say. This is the letter I sent them, which most likely is not getting published:

Your support for the justification not to do a full recount -- that the election-day work of ballot-counting citizens would be undermined -- is as backward as the Bush administration's rationale that the Iraq war continue to be prosecuted so the soldiers who died, didn't die in vain.

A recommended recount of 9% of the ballots by itself suggests significant irregularities in the election. Given our own history of the flawed 2000 presidential election, when a full recount of Florida most likely would have made Gore the winner, it is in Mexico's best interest to put all doubts to rest and do a full recount.

Altered Oceans -- series on LA Times

latimes.com

Kudos to the LA Times for an awesomely researched and presented series on how our oceans are getting spoiled and how humans are ultimately going to pay the price.

Maybe Congress should just adjourn for the rest of the year

And now for some good news. Congress Is Stalled on New Terror Laws according to the Los Angeles Times.

It now looks like both the laws to set up a framework for military tribunals and for the NSA warrantless spying, are going to have to wait till Congress comes back from its undeservedly long holiday (Aug 7 - Sep 4).

I predict some grandstanding with the anniversary of Sep 11 as background, when they come back. Also, that they will be in a hurry to enact something which gives Bush a total pass on both fronts. After all, come November, the God's Own Party may not be in the majority.

Committee of shame

politicalfriendster.com

Four CA counties enacted ordinances restricting genetically modified seeds in their counties. This was done democratically with hard-fought battles against the likes of Monsanto and friends.

On June 28, 2006, the Democrat-controlled Assembly Committee on Agriculture has voted to pass a bill SB 1056 onto the full Assembly. This bill is likely to be heard in August. The bill if passed by the legislature, would overturn the wish of these counties, and worse, take away the rights of local counties to exercise control over biotech in their own communities.

What can possibly allow such a piece of legislation to get passed by the committee? I mean, have they heard of the will of the people? Or is it that the pockets of the agri-lobby are so deep, they couldn't resist dipping their grubby little fingers in them?

See who makes up this committee of shame.

The CAL GE-Free group has tools for you to act.