Another Economic Hit

Guess where it comes from? The housing market. Just wave after wave of great news.

Equity in Americans’ homes falls to historic low (1945)

The equity Americans have in their most important asset – their homes – has dropped to its lowest level since the end of World War II. Homeowners’ portion of equity slipped to from a revised 47.5 percent in the previous quarter. That was the fifth quarter in a row below [...]

Interesting Data on the VP Spot

Judging by this polling info, Hillary really COULD help Obama. Kind of throws a new light on things, don’t you think?

Gallup: Hillary Gives Obama 5 Point Bump As VP

Obama can choose to not maximize his chances of winning in November if he does not choose Hillary Clinton. And that will be his choice and his responsibility. I wrote a post that discussed making [...]

Oh, But THIS Could Never Happen!

Not on a rock-solid electronic voting machine! Never! Uh..ooops.

Malicious Viruses Discovered on FL Vote Tabulation System

From the St. Petersburg Times… Two pieces of malicious software detected Thursday have been removed from Pinellas County’s voting tabulation system. The two bugs, known as Flush.G and W32.SillyDC, work in tandem and go from computer to computer redirecting Internet browsers to sites the user hasn’t selected, officials said. The worm is [...]

Energy Optimism

It’s tough to find much to be optimistic about. Here’s one tidbit. It’s still a couple of years down the road – probably even more for most auto makers – but it’s something to hold onto. Something to look forward to.

Tipping Point?

Four dollar a gallon gasoline has stimulated something that should have been done years ago – development of an alternative to the internal combustion engine. And for once it may be an American automaker that is leading [...]

Mending Fences

This will be tricky. Can Barack Obama mend fences with Bill Clinton?

Obama welcomes Bill Clinton aid

Barack Obama is looking forward to campaigning with a pair of Clintons this summer and fall. But don’t bother asking if he’ll pick the Clinton he just defeated as his running mate. Fielding questions on his campaign plane over Virginia, Obama heaped praise on Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, his vanquished Democratic rival, pronouncing himself “grateful for her support.” He also said he expected to mend fences with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who criticized Obama sharply at [...]

White House Response

Poor Dana had to talk with reporters after the Senate Intelligence report came out today. Wouldn’t wish that job on my worse enemy…

Iraq Report Undermines Bush’s Claim That He Is A ‘Credible’ Leader Because He ‘Reads The Intelligence’

Today, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee released the final two sections of its pre-war intelligence report. As Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, the report concludes “that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence.” In today’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was dismissive of the report, explaining that President [...]

Now She Wants It, Now She Doesn’t

Didn’t Hillary Clinton say that she’d be willing to talk about the VP spot with Obama? Guess she had a chance to sleep on it..

Clinton Says She’s Not Seeking Vice Presidency

Susan Davis reports on the presidential race. Some of Hillary Clinton?s most ardent backers want to see her end up on the presidential ticket this fall, but the New York senator said today that she’s not seeking the vice presidency. In a statement from her campaign, Clinton disavowed outside efforts to get her on the ticket, [...]

I guess what she’s saying is that she won’t campaign for the VP spot and doesn’t want anyone else to push it, either. But, she wouldn’t turn it down, would she?

Public Service Time

In the interest of helping save you some money, I’m really interested in this “hypermiling” thing.

Hypermiling: Getting “Regular” Cars Up To 70+ MPG

It’s really no surprise that the combination of various gas-saving techniques known collectively as ‘hypermiling’ are getting more attention these days with oil hitting record highs (though part of it is because of the weakness of the US dollar) [...]

My Goodness

Another MAJOR shakeup in the Bush Administration! However, this analysis says it’s not unexpected.

Breaking: Air Force Chief, Secretary Resign

The Air Force’s civilian and uniformed leaders are being booted out of the Pentagon, according to Inside Defense and Air Force Times. Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael “Buzz” Moseley has resigned, and Secretary Michael W. Wynne is next. The [...]

The Next Step

With Clinton stepping aside, it’s up to Obama to start making nice with her supporters. It appears, if one incident builds a case, that he’s ready and willing to do just that.

A few more events like this one and we’ll all feel better

It’s possible that Minnesotans are just nicer and more gracious than folks in other parts of the country, but the MinnPost had an interesting report on the Obama rally at the Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday, and the kind of treatment Hillary Clinton’s supporters found when they got there. Specifically, the head of Clinton’s Minnesota campaign [...]

Report From Ground Zero In Iraq

Another problem we haven’t been able to fix.

lack of water new present from our neighbor countries

Dryness, lack of water and rising food prices are the new enemies of Iraq . Recently the voices rose loudly in Iraq warning from the dangers of decreasing the arable lands because the lack of water in the Tigress and [...]

Not So Angry After All

Hmmm. The numbers would seem to run counter to conventional political thinking from the Obama vs Clinton campaign.

Poll: Nearly Half Of African Americans Want Hillary On Ticket

This interesting number buried in a new Rasmussen Reports poll should perhaps make us question whether African American voters are really all that upset with Hillary over the racially-charged tactics she was accused of using during the campaign… “Forty-five percent [...]

The Numbers Game

Just when you thought they couldn’t go any lower…

Bush Approval Down to 25%

President Bush’s approval rating is at its lowest level ever, according to the latest CBS News poll. Just 25% of Americans approve of the overall job Bush is doing as President. Likewise, 67% [...]

The Next Big Argument

You’re going to hear it, over and over again, during the Presidential Campaign. You’ll hear it from friends and relatives. You’ll hear it on radio talk shows. You’ll see it on TV. Logic? Not so much. Emotional? Very much so.

Mike Signorile tries to bore into the ‘if not Hillary, I’m voting McCain’ logic

It was a difficult day on The Michelangelo Signorile Show yesterday, as Mike spoke with several angry callers who are ready to vote for John McCain before casting a ballot for Barack Obama. In the clip below, the caller cites a few reasons I’ve seen out there, including: [...]

They REALLY Don’t Want Us Hanging Around

I would say that it’s time. Didn’t we say we were sticking around long enough to let the Iraqi government step up to the plate? They’re at the plate and ready to swing the bat.

Majority of Iraqi Parliament Wants Us Gone

Is anyone surprised at this, or the fact that it is being virtually ignored by the American media today? “A majority of the Iraqi parliament has written to Congress rejecting a long-term security deal with Washington if it is not linked to a requirement that [...]

I wonder if the Iraqi Parliament has heard about this? I doubt they’ll be very happy!

Report: Bush Administration Negotiating ‘Secret Plan’ To Keep Troops In Iraq ‘Indefinitely’

Today, the UK Independent has a troubling report on a “secret plan” for U.S. occupation in Iraq allegedly being pushed by the Bush administration: A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November. The terms of the impending [...]

Of course, we deny it:

No U.S. push to be in Iraq forever: envoy

Amb. Ryan Crocker, the U.S. envoy to Iraq, denied a report in the Independent, a British newspaper, that the U.S. was conducting secret negotiations with Iraq for permanent American military bases in Iraq. Crocker is state side this week to hold meetings with [...]

Today’s Economic Note

Ugh. I hate to have to tell you, but it’s getting bad out there. REALLY bad. via Yahoo and AP.

Home Foreclosures Set Record in First Quarter

Home foreclosures and late payments set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, stark signs of the housing crisis’ mounting damage to homeowners and the economy. The latest snapshot of the mortgage market, released Thursday, showed that the proportion [...]

The Iraq Lies

Confirmation today. Not surprising, but certainly unsettling. How many other lies?

Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq statements were untrue

A long-awaited Senate Select Intelligence Committee report made public Thursday concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available [..]

And, by the way, the report begs some answers from candidate McCain:

Senate Intelligence Report Undermines McCain’s Claims That ‘Every Assessment’ Justified War In Iraq

Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sought to excuse his constant and vociferous cheerleading for the Iraq war in 2002 and 2003 by claiming that “every intelligence agency in the world” believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction: I know why I supported [the war] because I believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass [...]

Sigh…

Another one. Is there CPR for an entire industry?

Continental Airlines to cut 3,000 jobs, capacity

Continental Airlines is cutting 3,000 jobs and reducing capacity in the fourth quarter by 11 percent, citing record fuel costs and an industry in “crisis.” Also, the company’s chief executive and president say [...]

Does Your Vote Count??

You really have to wonder. This is one of the most incredible/horrible electronic voting machine stories to date. Not so much because of the scope of this particular problem, but because of who the voter was. Brad Friedman, one of the best journalists reporting on problems with the electronic voting machines. Read it. And wonder. About your last vote.

My Own Votes, Four of Them, Were Flipped Yesterday Before My Very Eyes

As a fairly well-known Election Integrity journalist who has personally covered, for years, the myriad election woes of thousands (if not millions) of voters around the country who have tried to bring seemingly endless stories of votes flipped on e-voting systems to the attention of [...]

How It All Ended

Fascinating analysis of how it all ended for Hillary Clinton.

The Fall of the House of Clinton

It wasn’t Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid who did Hillary Clinton in. It wasn’t the Obama campaign who bludgeoned her into submission. It wasn’t the TV talking heads who would have loved nothing better than to pontificate about the Great Divide between the forces of Darkness and Lightness in the Democratic party all Summer. Certainly John McCain of the Green Screen would have been thrilled to see [...]