Food Wars:

While in the U. S. we worry about the high cost of energy, around much of the world the cost of food has doubled in the past three months. The New York Times reports that "Rising prices and a growing fear of scarcity have prompted some of the world's largest rice producers to announce drastic limits on the amount of rice they export." Nearly half the world relies on rice as its food staple. The Times further reports that "Food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen."

The Green Revolution that took place during the second half of the twentieth century, which staved off this situation as the world's human population continued to burgeon appears to have met its limits. Many rice exporting nations, such as Vietnam and Cambodia, are beginning to ban or severely limit exports.

Meantime back in America:

Major League baseball tickets are going up in price, on average about 10.9 percent. The average ticket price is now $25.40; if you want a box seat close to the infield in Yankee Stadium, that'll run you $250 per game. So far there is no word of riots by American fun seekers. (See the Salon.com story.)

And just to make things perfectly clear:

Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war.

— Sen. John McCain, March 26, 2008

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

— President George W. Bush, March 13, 2008

Special thanks to Alex Koppelman at Salon.com for bringing those quotes to our attention.

Clinton Proposes Health Care Plan:

Sen. Clinton argues that health insurance premiums be capped at 10 percent of the median family income of $58,526. (See The New York Times story.) For those of you challenged by fractions and percentages, that's $5,852.60 per year, or more than most people currently pay who have employers contributing to health care premiums. But it should be less than what most people and their employers would pay next year.

This just in:

Al Gore turns 60. Wait, this guy is younger than me, and I ain't been on Saturday Night Live yet! Life is sooooo unfair!

Economics Is Not a Science:

Want proof? Read the Times "Business" section as Diana Henriques reports on the inexplicable difference in prices for corn and soybeans:

A futures contract that calls for delivery of wheat in July may trade for more or less for each bushel than today’s cash market price. But as each day goes by, its price should move a bit closer to that day’s cash price. And on expiration day, when the bushels of wheat covered by that futures contract are due for delivery, their price should very nearly match the price in the cash market, allowing for a little market friction or major delivery disruptions like Hurricane Katrina.

But on dozens of occasions since early 2006, the futures contracts for corn, wheat and soybeans have expired at a price that was much higher than that day’s cash price for those grains.

Nothing in the market place seems to be making sense anymore.

Olympics and Politics:

The thing about the Olympics is that everybody is supposed to put away their swords and spears and play games for a few weeks, regardless of how much they might hate each other. That worked pretty well back in the 1890s when the Olympic games, after a few thousand years, were re-instituted. You remember that time, when the sun never set on the British Empire.

Back in the 1930s, the world put its differences aside to compete on the fields of play in Nazi Germany, where a fellow named Hitler tried to politicize the games, but that didn't quite work the way he planned it.

Following a postponement so that the world could fight the biggest war it had ever faced, even the Cold War couldn't stop the Olympics from taking place. But leave it to a democrat to cause problems, when in 1980 Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the games in protest over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. (You've probably heard of that place.) Then just to show he could play tit for tat, the Russian Premiere called for an eastern block boycott of the 1984 games.

Now a new call for a boycott is being voiced over Chinese involvement in Tibet, Africa and other places. We'll have to see how this plays out. NPR carries a debate between a proponent of the boycott and someone who is opposed.

Do you remember where you were:

When the news about Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania occurred? Today is the 29th anniversary of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U. S. history.

What he said: "We'll be a great country where the fabrics are made up of groups and loving centers." — George W. Bush, Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 27, 2001. (Now who could disagree with that?)

"The Tonya Harding Option":

Maureen Dowd explains why it's doubtful that Hillary Clinton is unlikely to accept being Obama's vice president:

the Clintons think of themselves as The Democratic Party. When Bill and Dick Morris triangulated during the first term, it was what was best for Bill, not the party. In 1996, when Bill turned the White House into Motel 1600 for fund-raisers, it was more about his re-election than the re-elections of his fellow Democrats in Congress; in 2000, the White House focused its energies more on Hillary’s Senate win than Al Gore’s presidential run.

And even Clinton supporters know that Bill does not want to be replaced as the first black president, especially by a black president with enough magic to possibly eclipse him in the history books.

Somebody please explain to me why Sen. Clinton would claim to have been under sniper fire in Bosnia when there were so many witnesses around to refute her? This wasn't a gaffe, it was sheer foolishness.

Here's a terrible thought, but one which Obama and his wife had to consider seriously, as Colin Powell and his wife did: We haven't had a president die in office since 1963, that's 45 years. And this country has had a violent history regarding African Americans.

While the speculation about JFK's death focuses on whether Oswald acted alone or was part of either an anti-communist or pro-communist conspiracy, the feeling at the time was that the president had been too friendly towards the ambitions of African Americans. Many southerners referred to the president as a ******-lover. (I refuse to use the word!) During the first years after his murder, some southerners reported that people had "danced in the street" in their towns on hearing the news of his death.

NOTE: No, Reagan didn't die in office, it only seemed that way because of his Alzheimer's, and Nixon didn't die in office, he simply wished he had. The myth of Mrs. Woodrow Wilson running the White House during the last year of Pres. Wilson's presidency is based on a play, not on historical fact. It just makes a good story.

Bush: Iraq "Will Merit the Sacrifice"

… as long as it's you making the sacrifice and not him. With the Bush family, afloat in a river of oil money, Bush insisted yesterday, after the announcement that more than 4,000 Americans had now lost their lives in his war, that the families of those who had died will sometime in the distant future believe that their losses were merited. Just why they would think so wasn't clear, but it is certainly easy to see why he thinks so.

What GW had to say three years ago: "In terms of timetables, as quickly as possible—whatever that means. No, I am going to—one of the things that I think is very important for people to understand is that I believe that we have a duty to work on big problems in Washington, D. C., and so I'm going to continue working on this. And it's, I guess—I'm not going to go away on the issue, because the issue is not going to go away." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., March 2005.

I'm sure that makes everything clear. And you wonder why the man was such a failure at business.

American Death Toll in Iraq Reaches 4,000:

According to the Associated Press, the death count for American's in Iraq has reached 4,000 now that we are in the sixth year of the war. No one knows precisely how many Iraqis have died, but best estimates range between 82,000 and 90,000.

The Bush administration usually dismisses the figures, stating that Saddam Hussein killed more of his own people in the 1980s. It should be noted that the Reagan administration continually increased its support for Saddam during this time, dramatically increasing aid following the chemical attacks.

As everyone should know by now, the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam possessed during this time were purchased from American suppliers with American government aid.

The War's a Bore:

According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, as reported by today's New York Times, the media's coverage of the war in Iraq by 80 percent over the past year. Public interest in the war, according to the Pew Research Center, parallels Bush's popularity, "running below 30 percent since last fall."

G. W.'s joke — "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere." — George W. Bush at the Radio & Television Correspondent's dinner, showing a photo of himself looking under his desk, March 24, 2004 — was on us and the Iraqi people.

This day in history: On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Alaska, spilling eleven million gallons of crude oil. Battles over the clean up are still going on. Exxon Mobil is now the wealthiest company in the world, even as American's are going bankrupt while paying record high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil.

Pure Commentary:

Have you noticed that while the Republicans hate government regulation when it comes to the banks they own they nevertheless promote it thoroughly when it comes to the way you lead your personal lives?

They also hate government financial aid to working class people (unemployment benefits, government funded retraining programs) and assistance to the poor (welfare), but they demand that their financial empires be bailed out by the taxpayers after they do stupid and harmful things with their banks and other speculating entities.

To Boldly Go … and Find Stuff:

Science has now determined that there are 277 planets in the known universe, with the number growing at a regular pace. (No, that doesn't mean new ones are being created, just discovered.) If we don't destroy ourselves first through global warming and war, this period of history is likely to change our perspective of who we are in a way comparable to the realization that the earth actually orbits the sun, rather than vise versa. (See The Washington Post story.)

Speed vs. Sanity:

For decades we've known that shipping goods around a country the size of the U. S. by tractor trailer is one of the most inefficient practices ever conceived. Yet we still do it—more than ever. Some 70 percent of everything that's shipped travels by truck. Now the price of diesel is starting to make some people, at least the trucking industry itself, rethink the situation.

Salon.com posted a story with some revealing statistics worth paying close attention to. With diesel fuel at more than $4 per gallon, one large company in Michigan has adjusted its trucks top speed downward from 65 mph to 62 mph. The company runs over 8,000 trucks, and the resulting savings in fuel should be in the neighborhood of 3.2 million gallons per year, just by dropping that top speed three miles per hour. It will also mean a reduction in global warming carbon emissions of 72 million pounds, the equivalent of removing 7,300 automobiles from the nation's highways.

For decades we've known that this country needs a national energy policy. The only one it seems we've ever had is to ignore the reality of the situation and consume as much as possible—Bush's ignore whatever is going on and shop till you drop.

Culling the Herd in Yellowstone:

One of the great environmental stories is the successful replenishment of the Bison herd in Yellowstone National Park. However, from some people's standpoint, it has been too successful. Thousands of animals are now part of the herd and they don't seem to be able to read. In fact they tend to wander off the reservation and onto cattle rancher's property where they tend to spread brucellosis, which causes them little harm, but can be deadly to cattle. Brucellosis is also most likely spread by elk.

As a result, the government is allowing the herd to be culled. According to The New York Times, "A record number … 1,195 or about a quarter of the park's population … have been killed by hunters or rounded up and sent to slaughterhouses by park employees."

So here's what you need to think about: Bison are far more efficient at creating meat protein out of veritable protein than cattle are. They make more of it for less, in other words. They are far less susceptible to diseases and parasites than cattle, requiring less medical care and needing less nutritional supplements. And they do far less harm to the environment than cattle do.

Therefore, why isn't the cattle industry shifting to bison? The rational for killing off the massive herds of bison (buffalo in common jargon) was not because people didn't like the meat. On the contrary, bison was considered a delicacy. They were killed off in order to make the fastest buck possible in the shortest amount of time. And they were killed off as part of white America's genocidal policies against Native Americans.

We know better now. It's time to start managing the herd in a fashion that promotes better health for us and for our environment.

The New Economy:

… Is the old economy, at least it's starting to look that way, as The New York Times reports on how shoppers are beginning to relearn the fine art of bargaining. Until c. 1850 when big department stores introduced fixed pricing and a sales force without the authority to bargain with customers, haggling over price was a way of life. It was about this time when a new middle-class was burgeoning in American society as well, and haggling just seemed too unseemly. Wealthy and successful Americans just weren't supposed to be concerned about the cost of things.

In Denial:

Dan Schnur, who was John McCain's communications director in 2000, blogs on The New York Times' site about Sen. Obama's recent "race" speech. Schnur applauds Obama's stance and rhetoric, but he argues that Sen. Clinton makes a better candidate to face McCain in the fall. Obama, Schnur seems to think, is long on star quality and short on substance. It's interesting that Republicans had no trouble with this assessment when Reagan ran in 1980 and 1984, but when the Democrats have a candidate that can be described in this fashion, they crawl away from their business of destroying the economy and the environment to complain about a candidate whom, presumably, would give their own candidate a better shot at the Oval Office. Are they convinced that McCain can't win anyway so it's better to have a more Republican-like president? Or Are they just afraid of Obama?

The Cost of War:

The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof points out the following: "We’ve cut our casualty rates to the unacceptable levels that plagued us back in 2005, and we still don’t have any exit plan for years to come — all for a bill that is accumulating at the rate of almost $5,000 every second!"

Social Engineering by Gov't Mandate:

In Norway, The New York Times reports, a new law has been passed, "requiring companies to fill 40 percent of corporate board seats with women." In the U. S. such a law would be viewed with greater anathema than a governor hiring a prostitute and having her flown across state lines. In America, it's, grudgingly, acceptable to require companies who receive federal tax funds to hire low level employees from minority groups or females, but no one would dream of requiring boards of major companies to comply with such a law. Holy Smolikins! We can't even convince Hollywood to employ a representative number of women movie directors. And you all know what a hotbed of ultra left wing fanatics reside there.

Obama v. Clinton:

Lots of Clinton followers want Obama to take a back seat to their Hillary, preferably by running as her VP candidate. Hey, they say, women took a step back leading up to and during the Civil War, setting the woman's movement back by half a century or more. They shifted their gears to focus on abolition and later full citizenship rights, including the right to vote, for black Americans. It's only fair that black America let women move a step forward by granting Hillary the shot at the Oval Office.

Such a tactic would in all probability lead to a landslide victory in the fall. But it's also not likely to happen as Maureen Dowd explains in today's New York Times. The race, with Obama holding a slight lead, is likely to be decided by the super delegates, lead by Jimmie Carter, Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosie. (Bill Richardson and Ted Kennedy have already joined the Obama camp.) None of those three have any reason to love Hillary.

By the way, Sen. Clinton voted to give Bush war rights because she wanted to appear tough enough to do that when she became president. There was no misunderstanding. You'd have to be a fool to believe otherwise.

Bush's aphrodisiac: "If the Iranians were to have a nuclear weapon they could proliferate." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., March 21, 2006.

“And when you have not just one, but a series of attempts to tap into people’s personal records, that’s a problem, not just for me, but for how our government is functioning.” — Sen. Obama:

The senator's words came in response to the revelation that employees within the State Department had been spying, not just on him, but all three presidential candidates. In addition, it has been revealed that the spying has been going on for months without the State Department revealing the fact. According to The New York Times,

The breaches are particularly mortifying for the State Department because officials there discovered them as far back as last summer, in the case of Mrs. Clinton, but did not inform any of the candidates until Thursday, after The Washington Times reported that Mr. Obama’s privacy had been violated.

At this point, it is still unclear whether the pilfering of private information was motivated by anything other than idle curiosity on the part of employees with too much time on their hands and too little work to do, or was motivated by some other, more insidious factor. But considering the culture of corruption and the attempts to undermine the constitutional government of The United States by the Bush administration, it should not be surprising.

What might be the motive? The private information could have been used for political dirty tricks in order to besmirch the names of the office seekers. We've already seen how easy it is to plant seeds of doubt into voters' minds. Despite the notoriety that Sen. Obama's Christian minister has gained, there are still fools who believe the senator is a Muslim. In a close election, a few idiots can make a difference in the outcome. As students of history are all too aware, even dead people might affect the outcome of an election (1960?).

U. S. Falls Behind in "The Debtor's Race":

Today's New York Times reports that not only has America fallen behind the European Union in terms of wealth, but we are also no longer the world's leading debtor nation! According to Times' reporter Julia Werdigier, "personal debt in the United States is $13.8 trillion, including mortgage debt, slightly less than the country’s $14 trillion G.D.P." While the sum of money far exceeds the $2.8 trillion debt owed by Britton's citizens, the latters gross national product (GNP) is slightly less than the total debt owed. (They have fewer people and make less stuff.)

Never fear, though, the U. S. still has 303 days of the Bush administration left. I'm sure George has a plan to put us back in first place.

Good News on the Medical Front:

According to The New York Times, "A long-running federal investigation into the orthopedic device industry’s suspected kickback payments to hip and knee surgeons now has the doctors in the spotlight." Who would have thought doctors capable of such things? (Right, as if this sort of thing hasn't been going on for decades.)

Power and Sex:

Gail Collins wants to get back to the nuts and bolts of state politics. She's tired of the sex scandal thing. Let's face it: we want our politicians to be like our parents—people who take care of us and people we can't imagine as having sexual appetites.

If you had studied history at all, you'd know there's nothing new about all of this.

Tales of the Housing Fiasco:

These stories are starting to show up everywhere. Today's Washington Post relates the tale of Glenda Ortiz, who agreed to pay $430,000 for a run-down, one-story house in 2005 that had sold for just one-third that amount the previous year. Apparently, Mrs. Ortiz couldn't read English, although she is a citizen of the U. S. She also paid $5,000 MORE than the asking price.

Shouldn't somebody be going to jail for this one?

Your daily dose of Bushism: "No question that the enemy has tried to spread sectarian violence. They use violence as a tool to do that." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., March 2006.

Five Years In:

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq and this morning's news is filled with Iraq stories. David Herzehnorn addresses the dollar costs of the war. Before it began, the Bush administration claimed the cost to be a mere $50 billion, which would be reimbursed by oil revenues. Current estimates of the actual cost, however, range as high as $4 trillion, although the Pentagon, under estimates the cost at less than a trillion. Regardless of whose version you believe, the cost certainly is much higher than the neo-cons preached.

Marc Santora reports on the violence in Iraq, bookending his description with the reports of two hangings, that of Saddam Huessein and of a ten-year-old girl, who was lynched by Saddam supporters early in the invasion in order to terrorize Iraqi citizens.

Stephen Farrell reports on the day that Baghdad fell, with a telling statement: "The Shias are looting Saddam City." This was the message brought to the Shiite handlers of the press, and a sign of things to come, as Farrell points out.

Karen DeYoung begins her article on the war, in The Washington Post with " For a majority of Americans, today marks the fifth anniversary of the start of an Iraq war that was not worth fighting," and addresses the disparity in the view of the war between the average citizen and the Bush administration.

One result of the war, however, is absolutely certain: Exxon Mobil is now the wealthiest company in the world.

All Hail the Free Market!

Except when times are bad, then even conservatives, like David Brooks of The New York Times, are begging for a federal bailout.

Brooks admits that Obama at least has a plan even if it isn't a very satisfactory one, while on the other hand McCain's camp is dumbfounded. You'll recall that McCain admitted he knew nothing about economics, a strategy that undoubtedly pleased economic conservatives no end.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Washington, Cheney sneaks off to Iraq where a woman blows herself up, killing 41 other people, and Bush trips over his tongue as usual. You can always tell when a guy is BS-ing you. You can't make sense out of what he's trying to say, or what he says is just too good to be true: "What I'm more concerned about than anything is, is whether or not people are putting more money in their pocket... I really don't worry about what people are saying about me." (Check out the expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's face in the photo run on The Times Web site on the link above. After all this time, Paulson evidently still can't believe the nonsense that comes out of his boss's mouth.)

Back in April of 2005, the Great Man had this to say: "If we're going to spend federal money, we expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives—like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write." — George W. Bush. (NOTE: Is there a test for the Oval Office?)

Prime Rate Cut to 2.25 Percent:

The Fed set a record today, cutting the prime rate by 3/4 of a percent, the deepest cut in history. Wall Street reacted like a basketball. In the meantime, inflation continues to grow. The price of diesel fuel is at $4.25 a gallon at the pump. Seventy percent of American goods reaches its destination by truck. In addition, the cost of storing and marketing groceries continues to climb as those activities use energy too.

Obama Addresses Race in Philadelphia:

Sen. Obama appeared in Philadelphia today to address questions raised as a result of the publication of comments made by his minister. Obama is being scrutinized at level that no other candidate has ever been, including those who ran on race hatred platforms. It is interesting that now that we have a viable black candidate he is being required to address racial statements made by others, while a whole history of white presidents, including the current one, were never made to do so. Nor are the other two leading candidates. What's next? Will Sen. Clinton be required to apologize for feminist statements made by others?

Privatizing Your Roads:

The Bush administration has been in a rush to turn everything public into money making private enterprises, including the federal highway system. They climb its ideology that's driving them, the belief that government (of the people, by the people, for the people) inevitably does things worse than Wall Street bankers. (I'm guessing you're aware of how the government is currently bailing out the banking system that's in danger of re-enacting 1929.)

Lyndsey Layton and Spencer S. Hsu cover the attempted transportation hijacking in today's Washington Post. The Bush-ites claim that taxing fuel consumption is inadequate to the job of financing our roads and that doing away with the tax while forcing you to pay private speculators for the same right will be not only fairer but also more effective in generating revenue to maintain the roads.

Face it, if it costs a buck to maintain a stretch of highway, then it costs a buck regardless of whether the entity collecting that buck is the federal government through taxes or a Wall Street speculator or foreign business. The latter two, of course, must also collect some portion of the money as pure profit, taking that money completely out of the system.

So what's the real story? Speculators donate money to the Republican party. Government bureaucrats tend to vote for Democrats. The Bush administration is simply trying to shift money from some voters' pockets to other voters' pockets. In the meantime, just how efficient would such a shift be and we taxpayers and motorists be better off for it in any way? Considering what these speculators have done with the housing market, the banking system, and the so called War against Terrorism, which is little more than pork for the industrial portion of the "complex," you'd have to be a fool to trust this administration on anything.

The Layton/Hsu article is fascinating, if for no other reason than it describes the forces behind this insidious move: well connected Washington Republican neo-con lawyers with no background in civic planning or engineering, just a drive to hammer every peg they find into the same neo-con ideology.

Try these words of wisdom on for size: "I like the idea of people running for office. There's a positive effect when you run for office. Maybe some will run for office and say, vote for me, I look forward to blowing up America. I don't know, I don't know if that will be their platform or not. But it's—I don't think so. I think people who generally run for office say, vote for me, I'm looking forward to fixing your potholes, or making sure you get break on the table." — George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 2005, about the Middle East elections.

Thanks for freeing Iraq, GW; now good old fashioned gangster-ism rules that country:

It's not Al Qaeda who fuels the violence in Iraq, it's good old fashioned gangster-ism. Today's New York Times reports on the rampant corruption and the black market in oil. Remember, our administration promised that oil would pay for the war and the reconstruction of Iraq. That hasn't happened. American's will have paid well over $2 trillion dollars for this war so that gangsters can rake in billions of dollars while U. S. citizens go further and further into debt.

This Day in History:

Today is the 40th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, when troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley, Jr., murdered dozens of Vietnamese villagers. The questions of who was responsible and whether the massacre was a unique phenomena or routine behavior on the part of U. S. combat troops have never been resolved.

Has GW completely lost his mind? Maureen Dowd seems to think so:

Dowd waxes on Bush's recent wacko behavior, including the tap dancing while waiting for McCain episode.

The Great Man's proclamation on fixing Social Security on this day in 2005: "I repeat: personal accounts do not permanently fix the solution." — Washington, D. C., March 16, 2005, at a press conference discussing Social Security. Just imagine, Bush wanted to close down Social Security and have us put all our money into the stock market; have you noticed the stock market lately?

Yes, I got my letter from the IRS …

Stating that several months from now I may receive a rebate check from those good folks, which I am supposed to stimulate the economy with.

So why is the government sending out letters to some 130,000,000 households, informing all of us what probably everyone in the world already knows from the news reports? It must cost at least a million dollars just to send those letters out, and that's not counting postage, which the Feds don't pay anyway.

There is more than one answer. First, the Bush administration wants you to associate this rebate with the Republican party, this way they can hit you with it twice. Once when you get the check, much closer to convention time this summer, and now with the promise of the check. Second, considering that you are an American and have the strong tendency to spend what you don't yet have, if you know the check is coming, you are likely to run out to the mall and spend the money in advance, thus "stimulating" the economy earlier than this summer. Third, well, you can supply your own rationals here, like "These people are just stupid and do things as wastefully as possible."

By the way, who actually receives the benefit from the "stimulus"? Here's a hint: we live in a capitalist society; money doesn't trickle down, it flows up. From all indications that means Exxon Mobil and Wall Mart will be the biggest beneficiaries of the tax cut. And maybe Microsoft and Dell. $600 - $1,200 is about the price of a new computer, which you could buy at Wall Mart, right after you put some gas in your car so you can get there.

Yesterday's Washington Post had this interesting quote from Christopher Low, Chief economist at FTN Financial: "Unfortunately, you've got the brightest minds of both parties working night and day to come up with solutions, and so far there have been a lot more misses than hits." Interesting. Evidently, Mr. Low thinks "the brightest minds" create an "unfortunate" condition. He's probably right.

An American Success Story:

While feminists are proclaiming that prostitutes are victims, the world's best known member of the oldest profession may have come by her big break in the fame bizz that inspires America's youth: Washington Post writer, David Segal, reported on the massive attention "Kristen-the-governor-slayer" has gotten for her wanna-be-a-pop-star music career in the wake of the Spitzer scandal in yesterday's paper.

I'm sure all of you parents out there who are now pushing your daughters to get an education will appreciate "Kristen's" chosen career path: high school drop-out, run-a-way, prostitute ring. And you thought Britney was the ideal role model for your daughters!

So, let's see, the governor spends a lot of money to lose his career, wreck his family, and achieve enduring ridicule and fame, while "Kristen" receives immunity from prosecution, money, and a jump start to her music career. ("Come on, Jim, this is the exception that creates the rule." Okay, I'll concede that. But for us irony lovers, this is just too good.)

I Blame Al Gore:

Today's New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton's fund-raisers are pressuring party leaders over the Michigan and Florida delegate fiasco. Personally, I think this is all Al Gore's fault. If he'd won in 2000, we wouldn't be in this mess today. More importantly, if he'd just run this time around, the Democratic party would have gotten behind him, and probably Obama would have been selected as his running mate already. No way would he choose Hillary. And McCain wouldn't be sashaying around Israel with a big grin on his face.

Of course if Humphrey had won in 1968, the whole world would be a different place.

How Bad Is the Economy?

It's been a while since the words "run" and "bank" have been used in the same headline, but today's New York Times' lead story does just that. The Fed bailed out Bear, and according to some, if that hadn't happened "a very widespread panic and potentially a collapse of the financial system" would have occurred.

Gail Collins on Bush's pep talk to the New York financial community Friday: "you had to wonder what the international financial community makes of a country whose president could show up to talk economics in the middle of a liquidity crisis and kind of flop around the stage as if he was emcee at the Iowa Republican Pig Roast." Bush had trouble remember Ing Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's name: “the king, uh, the king of Saudi.” As you know, the families are close friends, but that doesn't seem to help. As Collins points out, when your rational for selecting a president is who you'd rather kick back and have a beer with, this is what you end up with.

Regarding Bush's idiocy about solving the nation's monetary crisis by attacking earmarks is "like saying you’re going to end global warming by banning bathroom nightlights."

Bush's reading habits: "[I'm] occasionally reading, I want you to know, in the second term." — George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 2005. Wonder if he kept up the habit?

Crude Hits $110/Barrel; Gasoline $3.25:

Yesterday saw new records in petroleum energy costs. Best guess is that oil will peak around $150 per barrel, with gasoline topping out somewhere between $4.50 and $4.80 per gallon this summer. Diesel fuel, the energy that moves American business, will climb even higher, contributing to the growing economic crisis.


Death of the Internet:

Forecasts are bleak for bandwidth capacity. Within three years, experts are claiming we will be in the same kinds of log jambs that auto commuters face driving back and forth to work unless service providers step up efforts to increase bandwidth. The culprit—video and pictures. YouTube, now owned by Google, is reported to use "as much bandwidth as the entire Internet did in 2000" (Steve Lohr, New York Times). In addition, it has been estimated that at least one out of four people now watch some TV over the Internet.

Your Environment Under Attack:

Today's Washington Post reports on the latest shenanigans by the administration to limit the government's abilities to fight for a cleaner environment:

Administrator Stephen L. Johnson also said he would push Congress to rewrite the nearly 37-year-old Clean Air Act to allow regulators to take into consideration the cost and feasibility of controlling pollution when making decisions about air quality, something that is currently prohibited by the law. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to base the ozone standard strictly on protecting public health, with no regard to cost.

Just when we all thought the country was moving to work toward a cleaner, safer environment, the current administration is once more attempting to side track efforts in order to pad big business's next quarterly statement.

Three Party Solution:

Since 1968, the U. S. has been flirting with solving its electoral problems with a three party solution. Currently, the Democrats are busy shooting themselves in the foot once again in the same fashion they did so successfully in 1924, 1968, and 1972. This time around, they seem to have found some new wrinkles: Florida and Michigan. Whatever the outcome in determining how delegates for these two states will be alloted, it seems unlikely to satisfy the supporters of the respective candidates, who seem to be about equally divided. No wonder is John "I-wanna-be-Bush" McCain is smiling in the wings.

Speaking of brilliant thinkers: "The march to war hurt the economy. Laura reminded me a while ago that remember what was on the TV screens—she calls me, 'George W.'—'George W.' I call her, 'First Lady.' No, anyway—she said, we said, march to war on our TV screen." — George W. Bush, Bay Shore, New York, March 11, 2004.

On a Personal Note:

My father would have been 90 years old today if he had not died a little less than three months ago. The plan was to have a big family celebration for him. Dad was fond of saying, "You have no idea how bad things can be," while referring to the Great Depression years. The poverty and hardship he experienced then seemed to rank higher than even World War II—he landed at Normandy on the second day of the invasion.

He had a successful marriage of over 62 years, and two children who seemed not to have embarrassed him too much. I can see him now, shaking his head with a big grin on his face and muttering, "Oh, brother!" Happy birthday, Dad.

Trade Deficit Reaches $58.2 Billion:

The New York Times reports that "imports of goods and services climbed to $206.4 billion" during January, creating a deficit of $58.2 billion, up half a billion over December.

Oil and gas prices reached another record yesterday with crude reaching $109.72 per barrel, as speculators continue to drive the market to artificial highs. The best guess is that oil should cost around $80 per barrel.

One in Four Teen Girls Infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases:

A national study reveals that, while teen pregnancy rates may have fallen, STDs are still endemic among teens. (Read the NYTimes story here.)

Spitzer Resigns:

National Public Radio reports that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has just announced his resignation in the wake of the recent revelation that he has hired high priced prostitutes, including requesting them to travel across state lines, on multiple occasions.

While we're on the topic, here's a good one from David Letterman: "Holy cow! We can't get bin Laden, but we got Spitzer" (from today's NYTimes).

Question of the Hour:

Okay, you're a man about to sit at a table with Senator Clinton, do you offer to pull the chair out for her because she's a woman, the gentlemanly thing to do, or do you seat yourself and allow her to do the same because she's just as good as any man?

It's a trick question.

Speaking of health care, back on March 10, 2006, the Great Man said, "And so I'm for medical liability at the federal level." — George W. Bush. Well, it's hard to see why not!

The Partitioning of the Sub-Continent:

Few in the west know much about the partitioning of India in 1947 other than the little they may have learned if they've seen the 1982 award winning movie, Ghandi. Today's Washington Post carries a story that's a good place to start learning more about the region and the difficulties that exist between India and Pakistan, two countries that possess nuclear weapons and have already fought wars. The story focuses on the night that twenty-six women in one family allowed the men in the family to lop off their heads with a sword in order to avoid being kidnapped and raped. During the partitioning of 1947, more than 70,000 women were abducted and raped. More than 500,000 people were murdered, and some 14,000,000 people were displaced.

While in the U. S., people have difficulty remembering what took place last week, most of the rest of the world have long memories.

How Bad Is It?

Yesterday's Washington Post reported that separate scientific studies indicate that the world's developed nations must bring carbon emissions down to near zero within the next forty years if continued global warming is to be halted. Despite calls to reduce carbon emissions, and promises to do so, as the Post reports, "the world's output of carbon from human activities totals about 10 billion tons a year and has been steadily rising." In the U. S., according to the Post, no politician is arguing for more than an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050.

McCain's Bear Harangue:

John McCain loves to voice his hatred of federal pork, and he's made a lot of hay out of a bear study in Montana, claiming it was a $3 million study that amounted to nothing more than pork.

Ironically, as The Washington Post points out, the pork belonged to Republican Senator Conrad Burns (now out of office), who is McCain's campaign chairman in Montana. By the way, McCain has the amount of money wrong too. The study cost over $5 million, and it was a successful study that determined the number of grizzly bears in the region and indicated that the grizzlies can probably be removed from the endangered species list. This means that at least in the bears' case the federal conservation program has worked.

McCain is simply pandering, in this case to people who, he assumes, pays more attention to late night comedy TV than to facts or the environment.

Glass Houses:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer got caught with his hand in the cookie jar after tattling on those who had done the same. It's hard to imagine anyone missing this story, but in the event you did, here's a link to the Times' story.

Being a crusader is dangerous business. Being a holier than thou one is seriously dangerous. What is that Greek term? … hubris?

What you have to love, though, is the guy standing there, apologizing to the world for assignations with high priced prostitutes, while his wife stands close to him, smiling with loving fondness. What?!! Are you kidding me!

More words of wisdom from The Great Man: "I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions: How'd your meeting go with so-and-so? … How did you feel when you stood up in front of thepeople for the State of the Union Address—state of the budget address, whatever you call it." — George W. Bush, quoted in The Washington Post, March 9, 2001.

Oil reached $108 per barrel yesterday. The average price of regular gasoline hit $3.2272 a gallon. Diesel fuel now costs $4.00 a gallon.

The American Dream:

Spend a fortune to win a scholarship that's worth less than half the money spent in achieving it.

Bill Pennington reports on the chase by young athletes and the parents for college scholarship money that's usually much less than the money they spend in its pursuit.

The rub comes from the fact that there is more money available to more students for academic scholarships than there is for athletic ones. Myles Brand, president of the N.C.A.A., is reported as saying that

“The real opportunity is taking advantage of how eager institutions are to reward good students …. In America’s colleges, there is a system of discounting for academic achievement. Most people with good academic records aren’t paying full sticker price. We don’t want people to stop playing sports; it’s good for them. But the best opportunity available is to try to improve one’s academic qualifications.”

Unfortunately, there is far less glamor in academic scholarship. After all, some athletes becoming professionals and make one to ten million dollars a year, not to mention the extra bucks they make from selling their image. (Someone might want to point out at this time that a few academics go on to become CEOs or owners of companies and earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year, perhaps even a billion or two, and own the sports teams that those millionaire athletes play for.)

Speaking of intellectual prowess: "We want to develop defenses that are capable of defending ourselves; defenses capable of defending others." — George W. Bush, The White House, March 2001.

"History Is Going to Judge Us All":

Bill Delahunt (Dem. MA) is quoted in today's New York Times after Bush's veto of a bill that would limit the C.I.A.'s practice of torturing people, including waterboarding.

In his weekly radio propaganda message, Bush stated that "this is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe.” However, no evidence has ever been released to "prove" that torture has stopped even one terrorist attack of any sort. We only have the administration's assertion that this has occurred.


Eat like an American:

World-wide, food consumption is up, but so is the cost of eating. The world's population is growing, rather than stabilizing. The "Green Revolution" of the 1960s that staved off world-wide starvation is meeting its limits. In addition, people simply want to eat "better."

What does it mean to "eat like an American"? Consider this: in order to produce a pound of beef protein, three pounds of grain protein must be consumed by the head of beef. In other words, in order for you to receive a pound of protein from a steak, the cow that produced it had to eat three pounds of grain protein that a person could have consumed.

Americans don't just eat beef, of course. In fact we eat more chicken than any other kind of meat, but we do eat far more meat, food at the top of the food chain, than is good for us, not to mention necessary.

And world-wide, people are attempting to emulate Americans, resulting in a consumption rate that is exceeding production. Today's New York Times addresses the issue:

“Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe,” said Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago consultancy. “But if they do, we’re going to need another two or three globes to grow it all.”

While inflation in the most prosperous countries, like the United States, is the inevitable result, starvation will be the result among the poorest countries.

Technology:

An "M.I.T. professor, says cellphones offer another way for the Facebook generation to share every life experience the second it unfolds." — Today's New York Times reports in a lengthy article on texting and teens.

One brief account reveals a teen who texts while driving, admitting that he sometimes looks up to realize that he isn't sure where he is or how he got there. Another tells of a daughter, while in Paris with her mother, answers every cell phone message, whether verbal or text, not because her friends want to actually talk about anything, but just to respond that she is in fact in Paris with her mother: "[H]er daughter’s friends didn’t even really want to talk. “'They just want to know where you are,'” Ms. Turkle said. “'It’s a new sensibility.'”

Actually, there isn't much knew about the sensibility, only the technology in use. The basic need that inspires this reaching out to others just at the age when teens are beginning to separate from parents isn't new, just the mechanism for doing it is.

Perhaps the most telling moment in this story comes in the last paragraph, revealing much that is both true of the new technology and probably about the technology that we humans have always invented: “'No one is teaching kids how to use these things,'” [Mr. Hampton] said. “'But in fairness, adults don’t know how to use them, either.'”

All of this particular kind of technology is perfectly suited for teens, who feel compelled to reach out and make contact, to seek acceptance, but to avoid any sort of serious commitment.

It's All Up to Pennsylvania:

Gail Collins points out a little history on Pennsylvania and the presidency today:

For all its awesomeness, Pennsylvania’s only contribution to the presidency was James Buchanan. He was in office at the onset of the Civil War and is celebrated mainly for holding down the bottom of the Worst Presidents lists. Historians often describe him as “our only bachelor president,” although Buchanan did live for many years with William King of Alabama, who later became our only bachelor vice president. We do not hear much speculation about whether Buchanan was our first gay president because, frankly, most gay Americans would prefer to start with somebody who didn’t preside over the secession of the South.

(The New York Times 3-8-08)

That's just too good to pass up.

More Good News on the Economy:

The nation lost 63,000 jobs last month. President Bush, according to The Washington Post, is now concerned about the economy even though he continues to be unaware of the cost of living for real Americans. But the president is very pleased with himself over his tax rebate plan. After all, Americans are most likely to put those rebates directly into the hands of the bankers and oil companies who bought little Bush the presidency.

By the way, the nation actually lost 91,000 jobs last month. However, the government created 38,000 new jobs (to be paid for by taxpayers), and that provides for the difference in statistics. Uh, government jobs, while perhaps necessary, are questionable in terms of real productivity.

Back in March of 2006, Bush had this to say, "After the bombing, most Iraqis saw what the perpetuators of this attack were trying to do." No one has quite yet seen what Bush was trying to do.

Times 'a Changing:

Lyndsey Layton reports in today's Washington Post on the state of the U. S. Postal Service, which is expected to lose $1 billion this year.

The Postal Service was founded at the beginning of this country in order to promote the general well-being of the new nation. Postal services were a relatively new concept, and having a national postal service was revolutionary in and of itself.

It was believed that the federal government ought to provide a postal service that would allow the people and their government to communicate with one another over what was then a broad geographical area. In addition it was believed that a national postal service would benefit business.

During the 1950s, with a Republican administration in the White House, a push to make the postal service behave more like a business was voiced by the government. The postal service should, it was argued, pay for itself at the very least.

As the years progressed, the postal service began to encounter competition as well. Now, in addition to competition from private companies, the Internet seems to be finally living up, at least in part, to its promise as a widely accepted mode of communication, not just for personal matters, but for business communication from advertising to bill paying. For the first time in the postal service's history, the volume of mail is actually decreasing.

In addition, the rapidly increasing cost of energy, specifically oil prices, are also taking a toll on the cost of operations.

P.S. The cost of a first class stamp is going up shortly.

Leashing (or is it "leasing"?) the Power of the Sun:

Another sign of change is shining brightly in the west. Today's New York Times reports on the increased potential for solar energy. The western states are full of potential for generating solar power, but the main problem is how to transmit it to where it's needed most. While water shortages make the case for keeping population in the western states low, there may come a time when the argument to move west in order to take advantage of cheap and environmentally friendly solar energy pushes larger chunks of the population to move westward.

Has anyone mentioned the fact that this might be a good time for strong leadership? Currently the media seems to be focused primarily on "gamesmanship."

The Political Scene: All the news seems to focus on whether Hillary's advisers can help generate worry enough about who answers the phone during a national crisis to overcome Obama's charismatic charm. And will this battle split the Democratic party so that McCain can gain the Oval Office to ensure that we have four more years of failed Bush policies.

No one seems focused on the need for true leadership. To date, no one has voiced a vision of where we need to go as a nation. Even Obama, with his charming talk of "hope," has not offered a vision of where this nation needs to go in the near future. His most promising image of change is the physical image he presents when he stands before a crowd.

But then JFK didn't offer much more than that either. But then, if an assassin's bullet hadn't martyred Kennedy, it's likely his administration would have gone down in history as middling at best and nearly catastrophic at worst, in light of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the near miss on nuclear holocaust over the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War.

Those who fantasize that Kennedy would never have pursued the McNamara policies in Vietnam that Johnson did forget that the latter was Kennedy's man before he was Johnson's and that the Democratic party at the time was desperate to prove to corporate America that it hated communism just as much as any Republican did.

Speaking of History and the Future: "In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?'" — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., March 2005.

Yes, they lied to us, in the worst possible way:

Bush/Cheney lied to us when they said the Iraqi people would welcome us with open arms. They lied to us when they said the war would be over in days. They lied to us when they said Iraqi oil would pay for the war.

Estimates for the total cost of the war now range from $2 trillion to $3 trillion. This is the worst administration in the history of the country, without a doubt. (See Bob Herbert's Op-Ed for a glimpse of what the country might have done with that money.)

Where did the money go? Whose pockets are being lined with that money that you, your children and your grandchildren and probably your great-grandchildren will be paying out?

If Global Warming Is Real, Why Am I So Cold?

The below average temperatures in the northern hemisphere have the anti-government forces parading their skepticism again. While most of the educated world accepts the fact that human interference, coupled with the normal forces of nature, is speeding up global warming that will eventually alter the environment in dramatic and seriously problematic ways, those who want to use any argument to promote their own agenda of anything goes.

Note, Marc Morano's (communications director for the Republican minority on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee) blog.

You have to wonder, are these people that stupid, or do they just think the rest of us are.

Increased Violence in Darfur:

Lydia Polgreen reports in today's New York Times on the increasing violence in Darfur. A great deal has been said about the horror taking place there, but not so much about the complexities of the issues. Polgreen briefly discusses them briefly at the end of her article. Bringing the violence to a satisfactory end will not occur until a full understanding of its causes is achieved. It seems doubtful that the participants themselves have any real notion of what it is about.

Nicholas Kristoff also reports in today's Times, about Sudanese violence, which is about to erupt in southern Sudan. The government's surrogate forces, the janjaweed, have gathered in the region, armed by the government, and are prepared to began a mass slaughter, including rape, of the population. Kristoff points out the issues over oil and the government's refusal to abide by its agreements.

The Latest on Online Piracy:

Heather Timmons writes about the popularity of "Scrabulous," an online version of Scrabble, the word game, in today's Times. According to Timmons, the game has over three million registered users and more than 700,000 people play each day. (Who knew so many people loved words so much?)

The two companies who sell the board game, however, have nothing to do with the online version, and they are crying piracy. My question is why didn't these companies invent the game themselves or at the very least buy it out, rather than sit back and moan about its existence? They seem to be following in the failed footsteps of the musical industry. Come on, folks, you've got to get out in front of the parade if you want to lead it.

Gender and Politics:

Robin Toner addresses the gender issues as they relate to Hillary Clinton's candidacy, particularly within the Democratic party, without providing us with many answers, in today's Times. Image may not be everything, but it plays a larger roll than most people like to admit.

Today's Bushism: "Ann and I will carry out this equivocal message to the world: Markets must be open." — George W. Bush at the swearing in of Ann Veneman as the Secretary of Agriculture, March 2, 2001.

Only 324 days left, does that seem like Forever!

Bush Base Blunders:

Again. Plagiarism is back in the news. Just when Bush puts his foot in his mouth revealing his lack of connection to the rest of us over the price of a gallon of gas, one of his top aids is caught stealing the words of others. Tim Goeglein, one of Bush's top religious right aids, has admitted to stealing large chunks of other people's words in 19 of 38 articles he published over the years since 2000. Sheryl Gay Stolberg covers the story in today's New York Times. Goeglein, a top aid to Karl Rove early in the Bush administration, has left the building, so to speak.

Speaking of lack of awareness: "I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists." — George W. Bush, Newsweek, Feb. 2000.


A Personal Moment:

Ah, Saturdays! Ya gotta love 'em. Don't you wish there were five Saturdays a week? I mean, you can't do away with Fridays (thank God), because you need a payday, and Sunday has to stay for the sake of pro football and to keep the religious right happy, but I see no reason why we shouldn't have five Saturdays in between.

Defining Victory:

President Bush asked the press core to define victory for him recently—I heard it on NPR, but forgot the context—and added that he wasn't going to allow politics to define it in the case of Iraq, which just makes perfect sense.

Some Vietnam veterans are found of saying the war in South-east Asia could have been won if it hadn't been for the need to have a political solution. That's like saying you could have been baseball's greatest home run hitter if you just hadn't had so much interference from those darn genes.

Face it, the decision to go to war is always a political decision, the decision to remain at war is always a political decision. The only time that a war ends other than for political reasons is when either you are your foe is obliterated and incapable of making a political decision.

The simple fact that the decision to invade Afghanistan was bi-partisan does not keep that war from being political, and unless we wipe the country off the planet, ending that war will be a political one as well.

Here's the definition from The American Heritage Dictionary:

po·lit·i·cal: adj. Abbr. pol., polit. 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state. 2. Relating to, involving, or characteristic of politics, parties, or politicians: “Calling a meeting is a political act in itself” (Daniel Goleman). 3. Having or marked by a definite or organized policy or structure with regard to government: the union's political machine; political pressure. 4. Relating to or involving acts regarded as damaging to a government or state: political crimes.