RadioActive with Steve Mitton: September 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

No depression ahead

MARY ELLEN PODMOLIK and MIKE HUGHLETT

Hearing some of the dire predictions for an economy struggling to avert a financial collapse, it's easy to recall 1930s photos of people huddled in soup lines or traveling the country for work, and wonder what a depression would look like in the modern world.
Experts say that won't happen. Yes, banks are failing and the stock market plunged Monday. And yes, there is genuine concern that, regardless of the government's $700 billion bailout proposal, the United States still could land in a severe recession.

Idaho Congressman Mike : Response to Economic Rescue Bill

Press Release

“I did not make this vote lightly. Rather, it was one of the toughest votes I have ever cast,” said Congressman Mike Simpson. “I voted yes on the bill because I sincerely believe the greater risk for taxpayers is in not acting. The bill we voted on made substantial improvements over the President’s initial offer including robust protections for taxpayers, an end to golden parachutes for corporate executives, and substantial limits on how the Treasury can use the funding made available. My first priority in looking at this bill was protecting taxpayers, retirees, small businesses, farmers, and Idaho families from the fallout of a major economic decline. I am not sure where we go from here but whatever course of action is required by Congress I will continue to focus on its impact on the people of Idaho – not the fat cats of Wall Street.”

Predictions for 2008 / 2009

By: John Kehne

Since its conception in the late 1990’s, the Web Bot Project has made a number of very accurate and insightful predictions regarding coming events. Originally designed to track stock market trends, the Web Bot uses a system of spiders that crawl the Internet looking for patterns of behavior, trends and chatter pertaining to coming events. This tool is believed to be able to forecast the future by tapping into the collective unconscious of society.

climate change programme was biased 'one-sided polemic'

By Tamara Cohen

The BBC is being investigated by television watchdogs after a leading climate change sceptic claimed his views were deliberately misrepresented.
Lord Monckton, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, says he was made to look like a ‘potty peer’ on a TV programme that ‘was a one-sided polemic for the new religion of global warming’.

Family Told Obama NOT To Wear Soldier Son's Bracelet

By Warner Todd Huston

Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek of Merrill, Wisconsin.
Shockingly, however, Madison resident Brian Jopek, the father of Ryan Jopek, the young soldier who tragically lost his life to a roadside bomb in 2006, recently said on a Wisconsin Public Radio show that his family had asked Barack Obama to stop wearing the bracelet with his son's name on it. Yet Obama continues to do so despite the wishes of the family.

Bailout bill unveiled, heads to House

By Ruth Mantell & Andrea Coombes,

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Democratic congressional leaders announced their agreement Sunday on details of a massive financial rescue plan proposed by the Bush administration, releasing a draft text trumpeting taxpayer guarantees and caps on executive compensation.
The draft bill, titled the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008," follows days of legislative wrangling over a $700 billion plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as U.S. financial markets teetered on the edge of a collapse triggered by the U.S. mortgage crisis.

Bailout Bill

Bailout Bill Text - First (not final) version received by Porkbusters from a reliable Hill source Sunday afternoon

Mystery surrounds hijacked Iranian ship

By Nick Grace

tense standoff is underway in northeastern Somalia between pirates, Somali authorities, and Iran over a suspicious merchant vessel and its mysterious cargo. Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection. Its declared cargo consists of minerals and industrial products, however, ......

Feminists Love Abortion-on-Demand,Hate Sarah Palin

Joan Swirsky

Why are the retro-feminists in the leftwing media, the National Organization of Women, and the abortion lobby, among other hysterics, militating so violently against Sarah Palin? It’s because they value abortion-on-demand over every other subject on earth.

My To-Do List

Jim Cramer

As we wait for Congress to approve the rescue plan for the financial system, I offer you a list of things that must be done (some are related to the rescue plan, some are not) to prevent us from going back to the edge of the abyss. Call it my international to-do list:
The European Central Bank must cut rates .

The Fed must cut rates.

Bracelet Wars

It was meant as a sign of respect, but now conservatives are saying Sen. Barack Obama's invocation of his "hero bracelet" bearing the name of a fallen soldier is being done against the family's wishes, based on comments made months ago by the soldier's father.

How China has created a new slave empire

By PETER HITCHENS

China's cynical new version of imperialism in Africa is a wicked enterprise.
China offers both rulers and the ruled in Africa the simple, squalid advantages of shameless exploitation.
For the governments, there are gargantuan loans, promises of new roads, railways, hospitals and schools - in return for giving Peking a free and tax-free run at Africa's rich resources of oil, minerals and metals.
For the people, there are these wretched leavings, which, miserable as they are, must be better than the near-starvation they otherwise face.

Friday, September 26, 2008

$700 billion question

The Mortgage Bankers Association said resurrecting bankruptcy cramdowns would be "wholly unproductive" and "runs counter to the bipartisan efforts to restore liquidity to the global capital markets." The issue is irrelevant, the group said in a statement, because once the Treasury buys distressed mortgages, it can write down loan balances itself, without Congress giving bankruptcy judges that authority.

White House Dispatches Team to Push Economic Bill

By Keith Koffler

The White House today is drumming up extraordinary pressure on Congress to approve its plan to enact a $700 billion mortgage bailout fund, suggesting the markets cannot wait much longer and dispatching Vice President Cheney and other top officials up Pennsylvania Avenue to jawbone lawmakers.
Cheney, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and presidential adviser Ed Gillespie are meeting this morning with House Republican conservatives, where a rebellion is brewing against the size and questionable free market credentials of the administration proposal.

Florida congressman points to Palin to rally Jews to Obama

Martina Stewart

(CNN) – Rep. Alcee Hastings told an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday that they should be wary of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”

Friedman on Bailout:

By Jeff Poor

It was just a matter of time. Now that government has taken over services normally offered by private corporations as a result of the recent series of bailouts, environmentalists have proposed green building requirements be incorporated into new mortgages.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggested Sept. 23 that any construction financed by government-funded mortgages should be certified “green”

Brigade homeland tours

By Gina Cavallaro

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.
Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Democrats Created the Financial Crisis

Kevin Hassett

If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.
But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter.

There has been a lot of talk about who is to blame for this crisis. A look back at the story of 2005 makes the answer pretty clear.

The Federal Reserve's plan

By Michael P. Tremoglie

Some fiscally conservative Republicans have been reacting strongly to last week's $85 billion government bailout of insurance giant American International Group, condemning it as a betrayal of free-market principles.
The Federal Reserve's plan, they said, amounts to an expansion of government power and is unprecedented in its scope.

"The administration's request amounts to the largest corporate bailout in American history," said U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Study Committee in a statement released Saturday.

Liberals' Warnings About Obama Loss May Prove Self-Fulfilling

By Dennis Prager

If Barack Obama loses the 2008 election, liberal hell will break loose.
Seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election, liberals are warning America that if Barack Obama loses, it is because Americans are racist. Of course, that this means that Democrats (and independents) are racist, since Republicans will vote Republican regardless of the race of the Democrat, is an irony apparently lost on the Democrats making these charges.

Bill Clinton says he understands Palin's appeal

By KAREN MATTHEWS

Bill Clinton said Monday he understands why Sarah Palin is popular in the heartland: because people relate to her.
"I come from Arkansas, I get why she's hot out there," Clinton said. "Why she's doing well."
Speaking to reporters before his Clinton Global Initiative meeting, the former president described Palin's appeal by adding, "People look at her, and they say, 'All those kids. Something that happens in everybody's family. I'm glad she loves her daughter and she's not ashamed of her. Glad that girl's going around with her boyfriend. Glad they're going to get married.'"

Unsure if Iran hiding nuclear program

By GEORGE JAHN,

VIENNA, Austria - The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Monday that he cannot determine whether Iran is hiding some nuclear activities, comments that appeared to reflect a high level of frustration with stonewalling of his investigators. IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran's stonewalling of his agency was a "serious concern."
"Iran needs to give the agency substantive information"

Monday, September 22, 2008

U.N.'s $5 Billion Anti-Poverty Agency Fight

By George Russell

The battle is led by the U.S. and a number of other Western nations that pay most of the UNDP's bills (the U.S. alone donates roughly $500 million annually to UNDP). Some of the Western states are concerned that UNDP is still trying to keep its $5 billion operations — and any problems it has with them — under as many wraps as possible. For its part, UNDP says it is happy to cooperate if only all the countries that make up its board can agree. The outcome of the battle is still uncertain.

Spies Warn That Al Qaeda Aims for October Surprise

WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of two major terrorist attacks on Western targets, America's counterterrorism community is warning that Al Qaeda may launch more overseas operations to influence the presidential elections in November.

Call it Osama bin Laden's "October surprise."

George Obama, Start Packing

by Dinesh D'Souza

So isn't it interesting that we keep hearing about Sarah Palin's peccadilloes while the major media continues to ignore the George Obama scandal? Here is a guy living in Third World poverty and his half-brother is the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States. Are the networks and major newspapers so exhilarated at the prospect of an African American president that they have become cheerleaders for the Obama campaign?

Sarah Palin horrifies Liberals

From ANI

Washington, Sept.22: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has probably seen it all politically in the three weeks since she accepted the Republican party's vice-presidential nomination.
Her public as well as her personal space has been invaded with out a by or leave, and she is turning out to be the most polarizing figure in American politics.

North Korea Pursues Restarting Atomic Plant

By REUTERS

North Korea said on Friday that it was working on restarting the Yongbyon complex, the center of its atomic bomb program, which it had been dismantling under a much delayed disarmament-for-aid deal with five countries.
North Korea asked the agency’s inspectors Monday to remove seals and surveillance equipment .

Palin on Ahmadinejad: 'He Must Be Stopped'

By SARAH PALIN

Governor Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, was scheduled to speak today at a rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to protest the appearance here of President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Her appearance was canceled by rally organizers who sought a nonpolitical event. Following are the remarks Mrs. Palin would have given:

Iran warns against attack on nuclear facilities

By NASSER KARIMI

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that Iran's military will "break the hand" of anyone targeting his country's nuclear facilities. "If anyone allows himself to commit even a tiny offense against Iran's legitimate interests, borders and sacred land, our armed forces will break his hand before he pulls the trigger," Ahmadinejad said during the parade.

Eyebrows raised over city school policy that sets 50% as minimum score

By Joe Smydo,

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials say they want to give struggling children a chance, but the district is raising eyebrows with a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work.
The district and teachers union last week issued a joint memo to ensure staff members' compliance with the policy, which was already on the books but enforced only at some schools. Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka said the policy is several years old.

500 TRADES FROM A MELTDOWN

By MICHAEL GRAY

The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon on Thursday, traders inside two large custodial banks tell The Post. Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray that morning with a quick $105 billion injection............

Trig Palin a Financial Burden Who Should Have Been Aborted

By Rusty Weiss

In stunningly self-centered, cruel fashion, Nicholas Provenzo, writer for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism suggests that Sarah Palin’s decision to give birth to a child with Down Syndrome, is a financial burden that others are forced to suffer with.

Violent crimes surge after illegals invade Texas

By Chelsea Schilling

While illegal aliens flee strict immigration enforcement policies in several states and settle in Texas, the state's budget is suffering and violent crime, soaring.
News reports indicate a flood of illegal aliens is coming from states such as Arizona and Oklahoma – where immigration crackdowns have made life more difficult for them. In the meantime, Texas' violent crime rates have taken a turn for the worse.

US electoral college forecast shows McCain is ahead

From ANI

Washington, Sept.18: The latest forecast of the Electoral College suggests that John McCain is way ahead of his Democratic rival Barack Obama.

as of September 16, the margin in electoral votes could be as high as 282.8 votes for Senator John McCain against 255.2 for Senator Barack Obama, depending on the forecasting scenario.

Josh Howard disrespects the national anthem

DALLAS (AP) -- The battered reputation of Josh Howard took another hit this week when an online video surfaced showing the Dallas Mavericks forward disrespecting the national anthem.

Howard approaches a camera and says: The Star Spangled Banner is going on right now. I don't even celebrate that [expletive]. I'm black." (See the video here.)

Get-ready-for-the-global-warming-propaganda

Now that government scientists recognize that the sun’s lack of sun spot activity is going to significantly cool the solar system, get ready for the storm of propaganda. You’ll hear something to this effect on every major news show and every major newspaper.
�Global warming is still real. These colder temperatures just mean it could be a lot colder without global warming.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Obama,Campaign Nervous Breakdown

Herb Denenberg

There's growing evidence that Sen. John McCain's choice for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, has caused the Barack Obama campaign and its partners and cheerleaders in the mainstream media to have the equivalent of a campaign nervous breakdown.Consider what is happening to the Obama campaign with all the cheerleaders urging him to get tougher. The campaign must have figured whatever it's doing isn't working, so let's try getting tougher.

Obama, McCain both wrong

In a crisis politicians are just worthless.

There’s nothing helpful they can do — and therefore they have nothing of value to say.
Not John McCain. Not Barack Obama. Not Barney Frank. Not Jim Martin. All are quoted in today’s AJC commenting on the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the takeover of Merrill Lynch and the Federal Reserve rescue of insurer American International Group.

Illegal immigrant admits killing girl

Steve Mayes

OREGON CITY -- An illegal immigrant pleaded guilty today to murdering 15-year-old Dani Countryman in a case that drew national attention and exposed flaws in the process for deporting criminal offenders.

Barack Obama and White Privilege

by John Stossel

White privilege does still exist, but Barack Obama's success is more evidence that it's not the whole story. There are plenty of people in America who want to vote for someone because he is black. Or female.
It's not politically correct to say that.

OBAMA OBJECTS

Amir Taheri

If there is any confusion, it's in Obama's position - for the two agreements are interlinked: You can't have any US military presence under one agreement without having settled the other accord. (Thus, in US-Iraqi talks, the aim is a comprehensive agreement that covers both SOFA and SFA.)
And the claim that Obama only wanted the Strategic Framework Agreement delayed until a new administration takes office, and had no objection to a speedy conclusion of a Status of Forces Agreement, is simply untrue.

Whose policies led to the credit crisis?

Ed Morrissey

The credit crisis and the lack of oversight over government-subsidized lenders like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac occurred on the watch of George Bush, However, what many do not recall is that Bush wanted to tighten oversight with a new regulatory board for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other government recipients for the express purpose of addressing bad loan practices — and Democrats blocked it.

Commodities ravaged as traders flee risk

Leo Lewis

Surging fears of Armageddon in the global financial system ravaged a wide selection of commodities across Asia as groups ranging from hedge funds to day traders spent the day in a headlong flight from risk.

Federal Reserve keeps interest rates steady

By Tim Paradis

A day after the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 500 points amid surging fears about the financial sector, investors alternately despaired and grew optimistic about the prospects for AIG.

Melvin Dummar and the 'Mormon Will'

By Pamela Manson

For years, Melvin Dummar has unsuccessfully argued that he was named as a beneficiary in Howard Hughes' will after saving the billionaire's life and is owed one-sixteenth of the estate. On Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver handed the Utahn another defeat by upholding the dismissal of his latest lawsuit. Dummar, a former gas station operator from Willard, in Box Elder County, has been labeled a scammer but has stuck to his story:

Teach 'the pleasure of gay sex' to children as young as five

By Steve Doughty

Children as young as five should be taught to understand the pleasures of gay sex, according to leaders of a taxpayer-funded education project.
Heads of the project have set themselves a goal of 'creating primary classrooms where queer sexualities are affirmed and celebrated'.

CHRISTMAS BANNED

By Paul Jeeves

CHRISTMAS and Easter have been scrubbed from a college’s calendars in case they offend non-Christians.
Holidays at these times will now be referred to simply as “end of term breaks”.
The move will “increase inclusion and diversity”

Monday, September 15, 2008

Daily Kos picture commemorating 9/11

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