Tony Blair’s Britain

Great Moments In Socialism 27 Comments

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch, and the time has come to call in the Luftwaffe;

In his annual speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, Brown — who has spearheaded calls for the reform of international financial institutions — will say Britain, the United States and Europe are key to forging a new world order.

In a related “please resume bombing” development;

Britain’s environment secretary has sparked controversy with a list of proposed new rules that could mean jail time for pet owners who walk dogs on hot days.

Understanding The Big O

Uncategorized 24 Comments

There are those who understand the President-Elect of the United States perfectly well … these people get it:

A seismic shift, a watershed moment, an electoral landslide or the dawn of a new era. No matter what the turn of phrase, Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in the history books as the beginning of the end of the 30-year political reign of the ultra-right and its vicious pro-corporate agenda, and the end of a beginning of new politics in the United States of America.
Convinced by the power of one man’s arguments for hope, unity and change, his program and example, a 52 percent majority of voters rejected the old politics of fear, racism and red-baiting and elected Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States.
Perhaps it was historically inevitable that this country elected its first African American president. The dynamics of slavery, race and racism, together with the historic role of the African American freedom movement in helping propel the expansion of democracy for all people, have always been a central narrative to the making of America.

Y2Kyoto: The Great Carbon Crash Of ’08

Roadkill 52 Comments

Hot air ain’t worth what it used to be;

In July, the right to spew out one tonne of CO2 from a chimney would have cost a power generator E29.33, but yesterday it could be bought for only E18.25 ($34.14).
The sudden collapse of the carbon price mirrors the rout in the wider commodity markets. Carbon peaked in July, its price summit occurring within 10 days of the peak in the crude oil price.
Since then, everything from steel to potash has been tumbling and you might think it unsurprising that carbon has tracked the general retreat. Hedge funds and other financial investors dabbled in EUAs as they fiddled with palm oil and soya.
The rush to convert hedge fund investments into cash and US Treasury bills has resulted in rapid closure of positions on various carbon exchanges.There is a wider question about the ETS that must be addressed, and that is whether it is a sensible mechanism to regulate carbon.
[…]
It’s a measure of the speed at which politics moves in response to market prices that the green agenda has almost vanished from media political chatter.
Carbon’s falling price spells companies going bust, the loss of jobs and the shredding of political reputations. Over the next year, no politician with re-election hopes will back a policy that would triple the price of carbon for industry and raise consumers’ energy costs.

Any bets on how long before Gore and Strong (pdf) join the federal bailout bread line?

Protecting your own

Uncategorized 22 Comments

I applaud the Canadian media’s decision to keep word of CBC journalist Mellisa Fung’s abduction from Kabul on October 12th a secret until her safe release earlier today. They they placed the well-being of an individual human being over the public’s supposed “right to know” every detail under the sun. They refused to allow their own mandate to report newsworthy events to potentially endanger a Canadian citizen in peril abroad.
Well done.
Now, if only they took into account the consequences of their reporting in every such circumstance. But I guess that’s just too much to ask for anyone not a Canadian journalist they know personally…

“This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew.”

Political Animal 15 Comments

The Chicago Boys – at the WSJ, via a reader who advises ” Keep an eye on how Obama solves his ‘Fitzgerald problem.’ Presidents, of course, have the right to fire any and all US Attorneys for no good reason at all. Fitzgerald is getting dangerously close to Obama and his associates.”

One of the first Obama political boosters, Tony Rezko, is at the center of the state’s highest profile corruption case. Recall that in June the Chicago real-estate developer and Democratic fundraiser was convicted on 16 counts of influence peddling. His sentencing was delayed this month to let Mr. Rezko “engage in discussions” with prosecutors. In other words, Mr. Fitzgerald wants him to spill the beans on Illinois corruption, possibly up to Governor Rod Blagojevich, perhaps in return for a shorter prison term. (Mr. Rezko still faces trial in Chicago in a $10 million business fraud case, as well in Nevada over unpaid casino-gambling debts.)
The Blagojevich administration has been under investigation for years. Mr. Rezko, who raised money for the Governor, solicited $7 million in kickbacks from private firms in exchange for steering state contracts their way. Prosecutors are now interested in toll highway vendor contracts granted by the administration with Mr. Rezko’s involvement. They also are looking into who paid for the renovations of the Blagojevich home in Chicago; Mr. Rezko’s defunct construction company was the contractor on the project. Meantime, the Governor’s approval ratings have sunk to 13%, and Democrats in the state House may move to impeach him.

A Philadelphia lawyer offers advice on “smash mouth” Emanuel.

Again, while supporting Hillary Clinton for president, Mr. Emanuel remained in good standing with Chicago’s Daley Machine. Yet, as I wrote earlier this year, the Democratic primary season featured a contest between the Daleys and Kennedys on one side and the Clintons on the other. Mr. Emanuel’s appointment as White House chief of staff shows effective he was in keeping one foot in each camp.
Then again, maybe the incoming administration is just going to be all Chicago, all the time.

Breaking New Kind Of Politics News! Barack Obama’s economic advisory board has been very good to him…

How’s Your Morning Going?

More Money Than Brains 19 Comments

Baltic Exchange Dry Index*

And just to help your breakfast along on that round-trip ticket;

This is the essence of AIG’s latest proposal:
Man walks into pawn broker. He says to the person behind the counter, “You know that watch I brought in two weeks ago? I know you lent me $85, but now I need another $50. And I will tell you why you will give it to me. I have a gun with me. I will blow my brains out here, right now. With your nice carpet, I guarantee it will cost you more than $50 to clean up your store. And that’s before we get into the cost of keeping your store closed while you clean my grey matter off your walls and what my suicide might do to your store’s reputation.”
Oh, and we forgot to mention that the man in the story above pulled the same trick last week and it worked like a charm.

Lots more where that came from Naked Capitalism

Reader Tips

Reader Tips 30 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation and pursuant to our Friday night old-time television crime-detective show, here are Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, and William Hopper as Perry Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake in The Case of the Wary Wildcatter, Part 2, and Part 3, with guest star Barbara Bain (1960, 7:56 + 6:58 + 8:33). For your further perusal, should you be so interested, here is my link-filled essay on Pulp Fiction, and here is a collection of my favourite Perry Mason book covers scanned in from my collection of about 40 such novels.

Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

Media 19 Comments


Alan Mutter, Nov.2; – “As soon as the election is over, the Washington bureaus and national desks at most newspapers, magazines and networks are almost sure to be dramatically reduced by their parent companies to offset the sustained declines they have been suffering in advertising sales.”
MediaBistro, Nov.6

[NBC News’ DC bureau chief] Whitaker told staffers that, if anyone’s thinking of retiring, to please reconsider taking the buyout package. Staffers have one week to decide.

Dog Bites Man Story

Dogblogging 27 Comments

Some years ago, I campaigned a quite infamous little schnauzer bitch I called “Frankie”.
In the show ring there are ribbons you want to get, and ribbons you don’t want to get. A “good” ribbon, for a bitch of Frankie’s show record and status, was big and blue (First In Group). A “bad” ribbon was significantly smaller, and striped green and white (Best of Opposite Sex).
These formed the basis of a demonstration. I first gave ribbons of each description to a volunteer and with Frankie sitting in my lap, directed that they offer them to her one at a time.
If the volunteer offered the large, blue “First In Group” rosette, Frankie would sniff it in interest.
If the volunteer chose the green and white ribbon, they were met with teeth, bared in an audible snarl.
I taught her do that.

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