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POPSObama's tire pressure remark - fact vs fiction McCain has responded to Obama's suggestion that we better maintain our cars in ways that promote fuel efficiency with childish (yet somehow effective) criticism. The amazing thing these days is that facts don't seem to matter. McCain is jumping on Obama with lies and accusations that, in my opinion, discredit his own reputation for running clean, dignified campaigns.
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POPSThe Law of the Conservation of Violence
Edward S. Herman's article on Z-Net, touches some important points: Can we expect a "way different" (and peaceful) international policy , if Obama wins? Do the Democrats promise to put an end to that "muscular foreign policy" which have harmed America's image for years? An interesting read. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the campaign trail called for a larger army to meet U.S. "defense" needs. Now Obama wants us to take on a bigger commitment to violence. This will keep the arms cargo ships and planes busy and the bomb factories and plane and missile factories working at full capacity. Of course, those wanting infrastructure improvements and resources will have to wait and "hope" for a better future after our enemies are defeated and full hegemony and stability are established. They need a good dollop of "vision." The law of conservation of the level of violence thus rests on the structure of power and its reflection in politics. If you want to compete
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POPSFannie/Freddie Trouble Seen 9 Yrs Ago
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans. ''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.'' Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black
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POPSCrooked Climatologists Drop “Cold” Weather Stations In A Year Absent any public statement from climatolgists for such a strange act, I can only speculate that this a deliberate attempt to cause an artificial warming of the data set. I can think of no other valid scientific reason. Would someone please ask GCHN to make a public statement as to why they tried to secretly “lose” weather stations when surely more data is better than less? John O’Sullivan is a legal advocate and writer who for several years has litigated in government corruption and conspiracy cases in both the US and Britain. Visit his website. http://bit.ly/5Bs1ii
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POPSWill The Recession Scar You For Life? Economists Say Yes Unfortunately, a side-effect of recession experiences is that people stop believing in the very public institutions that might - if reformed - be able to help with this redistribution. I don't think distrust of institutions is a bad thing. That distrust makes sure people don't become sheeple and makes them constantly scrutinize, criticize and exert pressure on their governments, instead of just having blind faith that they will "do the right thing".
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POPSReport: Military Should Use Less Private Security Government Executive story, by Robert Brodsky, points to more pressure on President-elect Obama to scale back on use of private contractors. Pair this story with another interesting one from the Washington Post today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111601841.html
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POPSThe Gonzales Eight An important editorial in today's N.Y.Times.This Administration is truly on a down slide.Perhaps we are getting close to uncovering what has been going on while the wool was being pulled over our eyes!!!
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POPSMexico Rebukes U.S. Candidates On Migrant Issues Mexico Rebukes U.S. Candidates On Migrant Issues MEXICO CITY, Jan. 7 -- Mexico's foreign minister accused U.S. presidential candidates Monday of worsening an already "adverse climate" for Mexican migrants and vowed to redouble efforts to protect the rights of her country's citizens living and working in the United States. Her remarks were the latest in a series of high-profile jabs at U.S. presidential candidates and lawmakers by top Mexican officials, and represent a dramatic rhetorical shift in Mexico's capital. In November, Mexican President Felipe Calder¿n called migrants "hostages" of the presidential campaign and urged candidates not to use them as talking points. Calder¿n also criticized the U.S. Senate in June, calling its rejection of an immigration reform measure "a grave error." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/07/AR2008010701421.html
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POPSMcCain Claims of Bringing House GOP Along Prove False Timeline: McCain calls Bush for econ summit to score presidential points. Before the summit, McCain meets with House GOP. They tell them they're opposed to the bailout. Pressure him to support his plan. McCain signals that he does to them and GOP leadership. Mass political chaos ensues. Deal falls apart. Claims on Sunday he's fixed it, bringing the House Republicans along. Bill is voted on. It's defeated because of a House Republican rebellion. McCain blames all of this... on Obama?
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POPSStar Factory Shows Off Three Kinds of Nebulae The Trifid’s third kind of nebula can be seen in the dark stripes that criss-cross the rest of the image. Called dark nebulae because of their light-obscuring properties, these clouds of gas and dust contain the remnants of previous star births. As higher pressure and temperatures build up inside the streaks of gas, nuclear fusion will lead to the formation of yet more stars
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POPSDocuments Detail Historic Treasury/Bankers Meeting
# "CEO Talking Points" used by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson confirming that the nine bank CEOs present at the October 13 meeting had no choice but to accede to the government's demands for equity stakes and the resulting government control. # "Major Financial Institution Participation Commitments" signed by the nine bankers on October 13. The CEOs not only hand wrote their institution's names but also hand wrote multi-billion dollar amounts of "preferred shares" to be issued to the government. # Email documenting that, on the very day of the meeting, the Chief of Staff to the Treasury Secretary and other top Treasury staff did not know the names of any of the banks that would be in attendance. # Email showing Treasury officials wanted to use the Secret Service to help keep the press away from the CEOs arriving at the meeting. # Email showing a public relations effort, run in part out of the Bush White House, to tamp down public concerns about "nationalizing the banks."
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POPS Baloney Detection Kit * Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument. * Argument from "authority". * Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavourable" decision). * Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence). * Special pleading (typically referring to god's will). * Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased). * Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses). * Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes). * Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!) * Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "pr
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POPSFor Farmers, Cap and Trade is a Permanent Drought Season . . . . farming is very energy-intensive, with fuel, chemical, electricity and fertilizer costs. They have to purchase a lot of equipment and have to construct a lot of buildings. The Heritage Foundation’s CDA estimates that the price of constructing farm buildings will go up by 4.5 percent in 2024 and by over 10 percent in 2034 (from the baseline) solely because of the upward pressure cap and trade puts on energy prices. Worst of all is what happens to farmers’ net income. Farmers live off their gross income; what they earn in addition to that is their net income or marginal income. Waxman-Markey significantly shrinks farmers’ net income pie. Farm income is expected to drop $8 billion in 2012, $25 billion in 2024, and over $50 billion in 2035. These are decreases of 28%, 60% and 94% from the baseline, respectively.
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POPSU.S. Casued Global Market Mayhem Gets Worse
Australia today did what you're suppose to do to help prevent this descent into Global Worldwide Great Depression. QUOTE: the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut its key cash rate by a steep 100 basis points to 6 percent on Tuesday, the biggest reduction since 1992. On Wednesday, the central bank went further by accepting more types of debt as collateral for loans and lend to banks for much longer periods. END QUOTE They are loaning money to banks cheaper...accepting more stuff as collateral for loans, giving loans to banks for longer periods of time. Period. A key words in the Aussie actions is: LOANS & COLLATERAL. The USA is BUYING bad debts and giving unsecured loans (with no collateral). Additionally, the Bush Plan not only gives away this money to banks to buy *hit...and gives loans with no collateral...but then the banks can deposit the money with the U.S. Federal Reserve and earn interest. (which d defeats the whole purpose of "loosing up credit for people
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