Yearly Archives: 2009
Dick Cheney, How’d He Do?
Follow this link to see how David Letterman has rated Dick Cheney’s performance as VP.
SEC chief says new short-selling rules a priority 1
Follow this link to the AP story about SEC Chair Mary Schapiro saying new short-selling rules are a priority.
What a difference 100 days make. It was in 2007, that the Bush appointed SEC chairman helped rescind the 60 year old uptick rule that some want to see re-instated.
The article is careful to point out that short selling is legal. What I find odd is that there is no mention of enforcing rules about naked short selling. This practice is supposed to be illegal, but breaking of these rules is widely flaunted.
Schapiro says that there is no “specific empirical evidence” that the absence of the uptick rule fueled abnormal market volatiliy. However, abnormal market volatility is not the only ill that brings forth calls for enforcement of the rules.
Even if a small number of viable companies were driven out of business by naked short selling attacks, then the law ought to be enforced and the violators punished. This is a completely different issue from statistical measures of the overall volatility of the market as a whole.
CIA Propagandized in U.S. About Torture
Follow this link to the New York Times story headlined How ’07 ABC Interview Tilted a Torture Debate.
They don’t say it in the article, but I would bet that the CIA pueposely had this person lie to us to in order to poison the debate on this subject. If true, I believe this would be a violation of the CIA’s charter. It would not be the first time they violated this charter.
I have not checked these out, but here are a few references I found at Journalism and the CIA: The Mighty Wurlitzer by Daniel Brandt From NameBase NewsLine, No. 17, April-June 1997
John M. Crewdson and Joseph B. Treaster, “The CIA’s 3-Decade Effort to Mold the World’s Views,” New York Times, 25 December 1977, pp. 1, 12; Terrence Smith, “CIA Contacts With Reporters,” New York Times, p. 13; Crewdson and Treaster, “Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the CIA,” New York Times, 26 December 1977, pp. 1, 37; Crewdson and Treaster, “CIA Established Many Links to Journalists in U.S. and Abroad,” New York Times, 27 December 1977, pp. 1, 40-41.
Newt Gingrich Comments on Torture
On October 30, 1997 House Speaker Newt Gingrich released the following statement after his meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
As I said in China this spring, there is no place for abuse in what must be considered the family of man. There is no place for torture and arbitrary detention. There is no place for forced confessions. There is no place for intolerance of dissent.
…
While we walked through the Rotunda. I explained to President Jiang how the roots of American rule of law go back more than 700 years, to the signing of the Magna Carta. The foundation of American values, therefore, is not a passing priority or a temporary trend.
Follow this link to see my source for this item.
GOP Stripped Flu Pandemic Preparedness From Stimulus
Follow this link if you want have a good laugh at the feckless Republican moderates.
Is this God’s punishment to the GOP? The proof of their idiocy seems to be coming faster and faster after each display.
How To Be Happier: Stay Connected To Your Past
Follow this link to the article by Gretchen Rubin.
She is working on her Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone’s project will look different, but it’s the rare person who can’t benefit. Join in — no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday’s post will help you think about your own happiness project.
I see by the comments posted along with her article that many of the readers of Gretchen’s article missed an important paragraph.
Of course, this resolution applies to aspects of your past that actually were happy. You might well choose deliberately to disengage with unhappy parts of your past.
Gretchen has a couple of interesting one minute movies.
Benjamin Franklin Letters Found In London
Follow this link to the HuffPo article about some Benjamin Franklin letters that were found by a reasearcher working in London at the time.
One of the comments about the HuffPo article pointed to the scholarly article in William and Mary Quarterly, 3d Series, Volume LXVI, Number 2, April 2009 where this find was first published. The link leads to the 53 page article in PDF form.
FBI Agent Got Zubaydah To Talk Without Torture
Follow this link to the Newsweek article about how Ali Soufan, an FBI agent, got Abu Zubaydah to talk without torture.
From my reading of the story it seems pretty clear that the CIA takeover of the interrogation and introduction of harsh techniques cut off the flow of information.