This is scheduled for tomorrow and Friday (click for larger image):

I came across this bit of information on Glenn Greenwald's website today:

From a FoxNews poll
In other words, folks, the Republicans are happier with our DEMOCRATIC Congress than are Democrats! Until our elected Democratic Congressmembers and Senators stop capitulating to the MINORITY Republican party, it will continue to be like the 2006 election never happened. I thought the stolen 2000 election was surreal, but this DEMOCRATIC congress really takes the cake.

"...The extent of Americans' ignorance is underestimated. Only two in five know we have three branches of government and can name them. Only one in five know there are 100 US senators. And five years into the war in Iraq only one in seven can find Iraq on a map. Someone once said--the author is in dispute--that war is God's way of teaching Americans geography. It's a great line, but rather optimistic. A majority of Americans still haven't bothered to take a look at the map of the country where we have been bombing and killing people since 1991..." - - - Rick Shenkman, George Mason University

Bits and Pieces for the Weeks of June 1 - 28

Sometimes it's easy to forget that our nation is still brimming with millions of racist, war-mongering imbeciles and that both we and they still have the constitutional right to print such trash. (Mike)

A Minneapolis District Court judge is trying to arrange for George Bush's arrest when he comes to town for the Republican convention. Well, good luck with that, I guess... (Mike)

I won't claim to understand every bit of this scenario, but it appears that the current econimic and market conditions are headed over a cliff. (Mike)

Are the stock and debt markets on the verge of crashing? Read two predictions here and here. (Mike)

MSNBC actually has an impeachment poll! You know what to do... (Mike)

Here are two subjects I never thought I'd see in the same headline: California Foreclosures Linked To West Nile Virus (Mike)

The classic sign that we're in a recession: increased Spam sales (Mike)

Say goodbye to these gorgeous gas-guzzlers. Most of them likely won't be for sale in a couple of years. (Mike)

Bush is negotiating a secret deal with Iraq that will undercut a Democratic White House's attempt to bring the war/occupation to an end in 2009. Fortunately the Iraqis "surprisingly" want U.S. troops out as part of the deal. (Mike)

If you have any ongoing financial concerns or savings with Downey Savings, you may want to seriously consider going elsewhere. It looks like Downey is close to total collapse. (Mike)

Such a deal! Buy one home, get one free. At least, if you can deal with the free one occasionally burning down. (Mike)

Wow. Over one million homes are currently in forclosure in the U.S. There's now a great buyers' market out there! Too bad Bush & Co. have financially fucked over so many Americans that there aren't enough buyers any more. (Mike)

This is really important and will take only a few minutes of your time. (Mike)

An unplanned benefit of same-sex marriages becoming legal in California (Mike)

OK, what's the caveat? "Australia ends combat mission in Iraq" Here it is: "But the Australians said several hundred other troops will remain in Iraq to act as security and headquarters liaisons and to guard diplomats. Australia also will leave behind two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship to help patrol oil platforms in the Gulf." Oh, and a side note; one more American soldier died in Iraq. (7 of 6)

If you enjoyed Matt Harding's "Dance" video from a couple of years ago, where he danced a ditty at various locations around the world, then you're going to laugh (and maybe cry) at his newest one:


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
Matt's outtakes video is pretty funny, too.

Hands down, my all-time favorite comedian...


R.I.P. George Carlin

Sit back and relax with one of the greatest guitar pieces of all time...


John Williams - Concierto de Aranjuez 2nd Movement

FOLKS, WE'VE BEEN SCREWED AGAIN BY THE DEMOCRATS!!

Well, surprise, surprise! The Democratic Congress has once again sold the nation up the river!

We modeled it after the very successful Little Big Horn Compromise Posted by John Murrell on June 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm Congress is now in the process of enshrining into law the precept that the president has the power to secretly grant dispensation giving entities permission to break the laws of the land along with protection from any liability under the “just following orders” defense, and if that doesn’t take the edge off your Independence Day celebration, I don’t know what will. After holding out for months against a new wiretapping bill that, among other things, would effectively grant the big telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for unquestioningly cooperating with years of illegal government spying, the congressional Democrats finally signed off on what they’re calling a compromise, which is true only in the same sense that a bug compromises with a speeding semi. All that barking and they rolled over like puppies. “I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get,” said Sen. Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican who led the negotiations. The House easily passed the bill today, and it’s expected to cruise through the Senate next week. Those 40 or so lawsuits filed against the telecoms by groups or individuals who think the Bush administration illegally monitored their calls and e-mails will now be subjected to a ritual of dismissal. Under the bill, a federal district court will review certifications from the attorney general attesting that the telecoms received presidential orders telling them wiretaps were needed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack. As Glenn Greenwald puts it, “So all the Attorney General has to do is recite those magic words — the President requested this eavesdropping and did it in order to save us from the Terrorists — and the minute he utters those words, the courts are required to dismiss the lawsuits against the telecoms, no matter how illegal their behavior was.” A confident House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said flatly, “The lawsuits will be dismissed.” Further, the attorney general’s office can classify the documentation it submits as secret. “So basically,” writes Greenwald, “one day in the near future, we’re all going to learn that one of our federal courts dismissed all of the lawsuits against the telecoms. But we’re never going to be able to know why the lawsuits were dismissed or what documents were given by the Government to force the court to dismiss the lawsuits. Not only won’t we, the public, know that, neither will the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Nobody will know except the Judge and the Government because it will all be shrouded in compelled secrecy, and the Judge will be barred by this law from describing or even referencing the grounds for dismissal in any way. Freedom is on the march.” The clearest insight into what the administration expects of its citizens came from Bond: “I’m not here to say that the government is always right, but when the government tells you to do something, I’m sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do.” We didn’t swallow that reasoning at Nuremberg, and we shouldn’t here.

FRIDAY F U N

• Practice your parking skills.
• Unusually high quality online flash game: Robokill
• "The event was planned and advertised weeks ago: At the new Fairhope Museum of History, officials would open a city safe that had been abandoned and unused since 1971. What would be inside? Nothing? Old city records?" See the video below and find out...

Safe closed since '71 opened

Testimony of Marjorie Cohn

Has anybody been following the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on GITMO and other torture schemes by the bu$h administration? I go to Balkinization for frequent updates. The comment sections are great.
Here's a little gem I picked up:

Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties House Judiciary Committee May 6, 2008 2141 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. From the Department of Justice to Guantánamo Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules "What does torture have in common with genocide, slavery, and wars of aggression? They are all jus cogens. Jus cogens is Latin for 'higher law' or 'compelling law.' This means that no country can ever pass a law that allows torture. There can be no immunity from criminal liability for violation of a jus cogens prohibition. The United States has always prohibited the use of torture in our Constitution, laws, executive statements and judicial decisions. We have ratified three treaties that all outlaw torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. When the United States ratifies a treaty, it becomes part of the Supreme Law of the Land under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, says, 'No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.' Whether someone is a POW or not, he must always be treated humanely; there are no gaps in the Geneva Conventions. He must be protected against torture, mutilation, cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating and degrading treatment under, Common Article 3. In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's argument that Common Article 3 doesn't cover the prisoners at Guantánamo. Justice Kennedy wrote that violations of Common Article 3 are war crimes. We have federal laws that criminalize torture. The War Crimes Act punishes any grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, as well as any violation of Common Article 3. That includes torture, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and inhuman, humiliating or degrading treatment. The Torture Statute provides for life in prison, or even the death penalty if the victim dies, for anyone who commits, attempts, or conspires to commit torture outside the United States." The U.S. Army Field Manual's provisions governing intelligence interrogations prohibit the "use of force, mental torture, threats, insults, or exposure to unpleasant and inhumane treatment of any kind." Brainwashing, mental torture, or any other form of mental coercion, including the use of drugs, are also prohibited. Military personnel who mistreat prisoners can be prosecuted by court-martial under provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. These include conspiracy, cruelty and maltreatment, murder, manslaughter, maiming, sodomy, and assault. - (Continue reading) Marjorie Cohn President, National Lawyers Guild Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Wireless Telephone Laws FAQs

I've been eagerly anticipating this new driving-with-cell-phone law for a while. It starts in two weeks. Here are some of the facts about it from the CHP website in case you live here in California or will be visiting:

Two new laws dealing with the use of wireless telephones while driving go into effect July 1, 2008. Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions concerning these new laws. Q: When do the new wireless telephone laws take effect? A: The new laws take effect July 1, 2008 Q: What is the difference between the two laws? A: The first law prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle. (Vehicle Code (VC) §23123). Motorists 18 and over may use a hands-free device. The second law prohibits drivers under the age of 18 from using a wireless telephone or a hands-free device while operating a motor vehicle (VC §23124). Q: What if I need to use my telephone during an emergency, and I do not have a hands- free device? A: The law allows a driver to use a wireless telephone to make emergency calls to a law enforcement agency, a medical provider, the fire department, or other emergency services agency. Q: What are the fines if I’m convicted? A: The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. According to the Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedule, with the addition of penalty assessments, a first offense is $76 and a second offense is $190. Q: Will I receive a point on my drivers license if I’m convicted for a violation of the wireless telephone law? A: NO. The violation is a reportable offense: however, DMV will not assign a violation point. Q: Will the conviction appear on my driving record? A: Yes, but the violation point will not be added. Q: Will there be a grace period when motorists will only get a warning? A: NO. The law becomes in effect on July 1, 2008. Whether a citation is issued is always at the discretion of the officer based upon his or her determination of the most appropriate remedy for the situation. Q: Are passengers affected by this law? A: No. This law only applies to the person driving a motor vehicle. Q: Do these laws apply to out-of-state drivers whose home states do not have such laws? A: Yes Q: Can I be pulled over by a law enforcement officer for using my handheld wireless telephone? A: YES. A law enforcement officer can pull you over just for this infraction. Q: What if my phone has a push-to-talk feature, can I use that? A: No. The law does provide an exception for those operating a commercial motor truck or truck tractor (excluding pickups), implements of husbandry, farm vehicle or tow truck, to use a two-way radio operated by a "push-to-talk" feature. However, a push-to-talk feature attached to a hands-free ear piece or other hands-free device is acceptable. Q: What other exceptions are there? A: Operators of an authorized emergency vehicle during the course of employment are exempt as are those motorists operating a vehicle on private property. DRIVERS 18 AND OVER - Drivers 18 and over will be allowed to use a hands-free device to talk on their wireless telephone while driving. The following FAQs apply to those motorists 18 and over. Q: Does the new "hands-free" law prohibit you from dialing a wireless telephone while driving or just talking on it? A: The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving. Q: Will it be legal to use a Blue Tooth or other earpiece? A: Yes, however you cannot have BOTH ears covered. Q: Does the new hands-free law allow you to use the speaker phone function of your wireless telephone while driving? A: Yes. Q: Does the new "hands-free" law allow drivers 18 and over to text page while driving? A: The law does not specifically prohibit that, but an officer can pull over and issue a citation to a driver of any age if, in the officer’s opinion, the driver was distracted and not operating the vehicle safely. Text paging while driving is unsafe at any speed and is strongly discouraged. DRIVERS UNDER 18 Q: Am I allowed to use my wireless telephone hands free? A: NO. Drivers under the age of 18 may not use a wireless telephone, pager, laptop or any other electronic communication or mobile services device to speak or text while driving in any manner, even hands free. EXCEPTION: Permitted in emergency situations to call police, fire or medical authorities. (VC §23124). Q: Why is the law stricter for provisional drivers? A: Statistics show that teen drivers are more likely than older drivers to be involved in crashes because they lack driving experience and tend to take greater risks. Teen drivers are vulnerable to driving distractions such as talking with passengers, eating or drinking, and talking or texting on wireless phones, which increase the chance of getting involved in serious vehicle crashes. Q: Can my parents give me permission to allow me to use my wireless telephone while driving? A: NO. The only exception is an emergency situation that requires you to call a law enforcement agency, a health care provider, the fire department or other emergency agency entity. Q: Does the law apply to me if I’m an emancipated minor? A: Yes. The restriction applies to all licensed drivers who are under the age of 18. Q: If I have my parent(s) or someone age 25 years or older in the car with me, may I use my wireless telephone while driving? A: NO. You may only use your wireless telephone in an emergency situation. Q: Will the restriction appear on my provisional license? A: No Q: May I use the hands-free feature while driving if my car has the feature built in? A: NO. The law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from using any type of wireless device while driving, except in an emergency situation. Q: Can a law enforcement officer stop me for using my hands-free device while driving? A: No. For drivers under the age of 18, this is considered a SECONDARY violation meaning that a law enforcement officer may cite you for using a hands-free wireless phone if you were pulled over for another violation. However, the prohibition against using a handheld wireless telephone while driving is a PRIMARY violation for which a law enforcement officer can pull you over.

I have a Blackberry 8830, so I'll be able to use the speakerphone function... woohoo. I sure hope the CHP enforces this as strongly as they promise. I can't tell you how infuriating it is to be following a car/SUV/van that's driving erratically, only to find out as I pass that the driver is chattering away on their cell phone, practically oblivious to their surroundings.

Big Bad John!

The unintentionally funniest campaign video of the year? Right now it looks like Sen. John Cornyn's is heading the list:

A plea to the younger voters:

The Los Angeles Lakers introduced their new team logo yesterday:

In just three days here in California, something terrible is going to happen. Homosexual people will be marrying each other. Yes, I know! It's probably the end of civilization as we know it.

Now that gays and lesbians will be married, my marriage is seriously threatened. When I see a gay couple and I somehow find out that they possess a marriage license, I will no longer want to be married to my wife. I'm sure because that's what Republicans tell me, and they're the self-proclaimed experts on family values.

My wife and I have only three more days to enjoy our marriage, and then all hell breaks loose. Starting next week, when my wife and I are alone together, just knowing that there are lesbians somewhere in our city with a marriage license in their dresser drawer (or, more likey, framed and hanging in the family room) is going to make us just want to no longer be married. I guess I should start looking for a divorce lawyer this weekend. It's truly a terrible situation, because I love my wife and it's not fair that we can no longer enjoy our marriage since there are other people who are now allowed to enjoy marriage too.

I suppose the only solution is to go find another man to marry.

Damn hippie tree-hugging commie liberals, ruining my life just so others can have rights too.

FRIDAY F U N

• Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people. Interesting tidbits of knowledge like this are found at StrangeFacts.com
• Watermelon Art
• Art from cans of Red Bull
• Some pretty good classic movies that you can watch online for FREE.
• Top 9 Jeopardy moments

A Libertarian's view of the economic collapse (excerpts):

People do not fully appreciate what we are witnessing in the markets right now. This week and last could very well be a historic landmark in the unfolding economic crisis. Last week, Ben Bernanke, faced with a raging inflation problem that can no longer be denied, came out and merely talked hawkish, indicating rate cuts were likely over. He took a gamble doing this, as the stock market was already weakening. It did not pay off. When the employment figures were released Friday, even these rigged figures showed that the US economy is shedding jobs at a rapid pace. The markets all were then gripped by extreme volatility. It appears as though the market players that are suddenly awakening to the reality of the Fed's untenable position is now spreading rapidly beyond those of us who are gold (and silver) bugs. The Forex markets are hit with the reality that the Fed cannot raise rates to defend the dollar without bringing down the stock market and the multi-trillion dollar derivatives mess, thus the dollar sold off sharply. The stock market is beginning to grasp that the Fed cannot lower rates to help the rapidly deteriorating economy without sending the dollar into the tank and causing all commodities (and precious metals) to take their long awaited trip to the moon, cementing the dreaded increased "inflation expectations" in the public psyche. Yet doing nothing is not an option either. The inflation that is already in the pipeline will continue to increase, choking off an economy on life support. What then is the Fed to do? What began last week is leading to a full realization and acceptance by the markets what we (Austrian gold bugs) have known for years - the Fed would eventually get itself into a position where it was in a no win situation.... ....The no win situation. It is here and it is real. It isn't a simulation. And the markets are beginning to smell it. A rate hike by the Fed and the stock markets crash. A rate cut and the dollar crashes and commodities soar. Both would have equal, devastating consequences. So the test of character of the current Fed is on the line. What most market participants do not realize is which direction the Fed will take. They have begun their hawkish talk, yet their recent actions have spoken loudly that inflation is not their main worry. This uncertainty (and the continued Fed speak obfuscation) will keep markets volatile for the immediate future. However, in the end, the Fed exists to protect the banks, so that is what they will do. Eventually they will ride to the banker’s rescue. Thus the likely path the Fed will take will be to stand pat as long as possible, using their bully pulpit to try to strong arm the markets in the direction they wish them to go. They may even be so bold as to hike a quarter point. If they do, look for an emergency cut within just a month or two, as they begin to monetize debt across abroad spectrum of markets. At that point it will be lights out for the US dollar. The Klingons in the bond market and foreign central bankers will fire away, dumping their dollar denominated paper and sending the US dollar into a full blown crisis. What is different today is that the main market players are beginning to realize for the first time that this is not a simulation. They are living it. The panic in all markets that will ensue will make recent volatility pale in comparison. Some will crash, others will soar. There will be whip saws along with bull and bear traps galore.... ....And why is all of this pain coming? Because the Fed will bail out the bankers. These corrupt and greedy men hijacked our Constitution and implemented a corrupt monetary system in order to exploit it for their own financial gain. This is moral failure of the highest degree. It is indeed “the crime of the century”. What this means for the average US citizen is potentially quite dire. After the cosmic dust settles, commodity prices along with any “thing” that has tangible value will have soared to unimaginable heights in US dollar terms. The economy will likely be in the next depression, brought about by hyperinflation and a collapsed US dollar. We then enter a new period of testing - where “we the people” will be called upon to chose who we wish to lead the country as we recover. Our choice will have repercussions that will last for generations. Will we have the moral foundation and courage to “root out the den of vipers”? The only other choice is more of the same failed leadership who will impose a new currency and a quasi-dictatorship right here in the good ole USA. And I don't think that is overstating the case. It's time to prepare to battle for our freedom like we have not had to since the first revolution. By God’s grace, the church will join Ron Paul in his Revolution and we will have the hope of a better future for our children and grandchildren.

This is likely a worst-case scenario of our collapsing economy, but don't think for a minute that the Cheney-led neocons don't hope it actually happens.

The Banking Crisis Is Back by John Hoefle After more than a month of claims that the worst is behind us, the banking crisis is suddenly back in the headlines. Those who compare the propaganda to the calendar will see a pattern forming, revolving around the fiscal quarters, in which the beginning of the quarter is dominated by the reports of the losses from the previous quarter, followed by a period in which it is claimed that, with all that bad news, the worst must be behind us. Then, as the quarter enters its final month, the propaganda machine begins preparing the population for another round of losses. June is the final month of the second quarter, and right on cue, the bad news reports have begun. The banking crisis itself is not back, because it never went away, and is worse than ever. Far from having been stabilized, the global banking system is on life support, kept alive by extensive government funding while it is being restructured; capital injections are being arranged for failing institutions, steps are being taken to keep the book values of worthless securities from plunging to zero, while the banks are being forced to write down the values of their assets. This downsizing is already traumatic, but it has really only begun, because the reason for the existence of much of the banking system has disappeared. With the collapse of the securities bubble, the markets in which the banks played are gone. The casino has closed, and the gamblers have been left out in the cold. When the system dies, so do the players. June Swoon It was as if, suddenly, a switch had been thrown, with the banking crisis suddenly reappearing in the headlines. Gone is the talk of the worst being over; instead heads are again on the chopping block; there is talk of big losses to come, and even rumors that a major investment bank is in serious trouble. Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank holding company by assets, dumped its CEO, G. Kennedy Thompson, after relieving him of the chairman's position in May. Formed by the 2001 merger of North Carolina's First Union and Wachovia, the bank has gobbled up lots of smaller institutions, including the $26 billion acquisition in 2006 of Golden West Financial, a huge thrift with heavy exposure to California and Florida real estate. Wachovia reported $363 million in losses for the first quarter, then amended that figure upward to $708 million. The bank has already written off some $7 billion in assets, and raised $10 billion in emergency capital. The firing of its CEO is an indirect admission of much bigger problems. Washington Mutual, the nation's largest savings and loan bank, stripped Kerry Killinger of his chairman's position, though he remains as CEO. WaMu, as it is called, has already written off over $9 billion, and raised $10 billion in capital, including a big chunk from pirate equity fund TPG (née Texas Pacific Group). A heavy lender in the plunging West Coast real estate market, WaMu, like Golden West and many others, is helplessly watching its asset-base dissolve. In Britain, where Northern Rock was nationalized, another mortgage lender is in trouble. Bradford & Bingley, which specializes in making loans to landlords, has dumped CEO Steven Crawshaw, and sold nearly a quarter of itself to TPG for a paltry $300 million. TPG was introduced to B&B by Goldman Sachs, and the injection took Citigroup and UBS off the hook for underwriting a $600 million share offering. The rescue was "shepherded" by Britain's Financial Services Authority. Unfortunately for B&B, it still has a deal with GMAC to buy some $4 billion in mortgages by the end of next year, as GMAC tries to avoid the bankruptcy of its own mortgage unit. In other bad news, State Street Corp., the 13th-largest U.S. bank holding company, is facing a reported $3.4 billion in losses on its mortgage-related securities portfolio, and is seeking to raise $2.5 billion in capital. The bank, like many others, is issuing new stock to raise funds, thereby diluting the value of the stock already held by existing stockholders. The investment banks are also taking a beating. Standard & Poor's has downgraded Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers by one notch each, saying it had lost some confidence in the banks' abilities to meet their financial obligations. Given the promiscuous quality of S&P's ratings in the past, and its dependence upon the investment banks, these downgrades are tokens of much more serious problems. Also indicative of growing problems is the announcement by the FDIC that the $5.8 billion in profits reported by commercial banks in the fourth quarter of 2007, has since been restated downward to a mere $646 million, the lowest quarterly profit since 1990 resulting in $100 billion profits on the year (Figure 1). The FDIC said the banks were still profitable in the first quarter, earning $19 billion, but that is about half the $36 billion the banks reported in the first quarter of 2007, as loan losses grew, and the values of securities held by the banks declined. The level of loan-loss reserves to non-current loans fell to $0.89 in reserves for every $1 of non-current loans, the lowest level since 1993, despite the addition of $37 billion to those reserves—and the official level of non-current loans is just the tip of the iceberg. Life Support Since this financial crisis began last year, the world's banks—commercial and investment—have written off nearly $400 billion in assets and credit losses, led by the big institutions. Citigroup, UBS, and Merrill Lynch have all taken writeoffs in the $40 billion range; HSBC has written off nearly $20 billion, and Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley hover around $15 billion each. These are big numbers, but they pale in comparison to the monies the central banks have injected. Since last Summer, the central banks, led by the Fed and the European Central Bank (ECB), have made some $3.5 trillion in loans to the banks, an intervention unrivalled in human history. In the United States, the Fed has created a number of what it calls "lending facilities" as the crisis has deepened. In mid-December, it created the Term Auction Facility (TAF) as a way to make loans to depository institutions. The first TAF auction occurred on Dec. 12, 2007, offering $20 billion; the demand was high, with 93 banks submitting bids totalling $62 billion. Another $20 billion was auctioned Dec. 20, with 73 banks seeking $58 billion. In this way, U.S. banks were given $40 billion in December to help them clean up their books at the end of the year. In January, the Fed increased the loan limit at its twice-monthly TAF auctions to $30 billion each, and in March, bumped it up again, to $50 billion. In May, the limit was raised to $75 billion; and for June, the Fed plans to hold three auctions instead of just two. To date, the Fed has lent $585 billion through the TAF, with another $150 billion available later in the month. Assuming all the money is taken—and it has been every time—that would bring the total to $735 billion in just a bit over six months (Figure 2). The Fed created two more lending facilities in March, the final month of the first quarter. On March 11, the Fed announced the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), under which it would lend up to $200 billion to primary securities dealers, through weekly auctions beginning March 27. Before the TSLF could begin, however, disaster struck in the form of the Bear Stearns crisis, so the Fed created yet another facility, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), to lend an unspecified amount to the primary dealers effective March 17. In less than three months of operation, the TSLF has lent out over $378 billion (Figure 2). The Fed does not report the amount of money it lends through the PDCF, but before the month of June is out, the Fed should easily surpass the $1 trillion mark in loans to financial institutions through these new facilities. These loans, it must be noted, are gross, not net. Most of them are 28-day loans, meaning they must be paid back. When a loan is paid back, the net amount is zero, and the money is available to be loaned again, so a cumulative total of $1 trillion in loans does not mean that there is $1 trillion outstanding. According to the Fed, the amount of loans outstanding through these credit facilities and others, such as the discount window and the repo market, have increased from $76 billion in mid-December, to $440 billion at the end of May. Supposedly, these loans are being made to mitigate the effects of the "credit crunch," but providing the banks with money is only half the story. When they take out these loans, the banks provide collateral to the Fed, which means that, in effect, the Fed is trading cash for "illiquid" securities. What is really going on here is a huge debt-recycling scheme, in which worthless securities are transferred from the books of the banks to the Fed, in exchange for cash or Treasuries, which helps the banks hide the fact that they are insolvent. In theory, the banks should get their collateral back when they repay the loans, but it is also possible that the Fed keeps the collateral in lieu of full or partial repayment. The Fed is silent on this issue; asked explicitly about it by EIR, the Fed punted, directing us to a page on its website which does not answer the question. Even if the collateral is returned, the issuance of one-month loans twice a month provides plenty of room to repay old loans with new ones, keeping the collateral away from the banks' books. These types of maneuvers are nothing new. Nazi/British banker Hjalmar Schacht used similar methods to recycle German debt via Mefo bills, and Felix the Fascist Rohatyn used similar measures to loot New York City with Big MAC. Austerity, backed by fascist economic policies, is old hat. What is new, is the scale of these actions, in a crisis which is just beginning. The accompanying figures give a hint of what is to come as the bailout escalates to cover the growing holes in the books of the players in this bankrupt casino. Will the existing facilities be sufficient to get through June, or will more extraordinary measures be required, as they were in March, when Bear Stearns collapsed, and the Fed intervened to stop a chain reaction of derivatives defaults? Bear Stearns was the smallest of the major investment banks, and is no more, having been taken over by J.P. Morgan Chase with some $50 billion in help from the Fed. That leaves Lehman Brothers as the smallest, and rumors are swirling around it like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Lehman insists—just as Bear did—that it is solvent, that there is nothing to worry about—but that can't possibly be true, for it or its larger cousins. They are creatures of a dead system, a system which no longer has the capacity to support them all. The securities market is virtually dead, and the shrinking of credit is crushing everything in its path, from households to corporations to financial institutions. The system is not coming back, and without it, the speculators have no chance of survival. The world these dinosaurs inhabited is no more. The danger, as is becoming more visible every day, is that the attempt to save these beasts—and the money they represent—is sending the dollar into a hyperinflationary frenzy. There are consequences to pouring trillions of dollars into such a process to try to save it, instead of shutting it down. Those consequences can be seen every time you go to the gas station or the grocery store, in soaring prices, and if that's where you see them, you are one of the lucky ones. In a growing number of countries, the food is too expensive for most people, and in some places, the food simply isn't there. In a very real sense, there is no banking crisis because the banking system is already gone. The path we are on, with the futile and foolish attempt to bail out the money, will inexorably lead to the sort of hyperinflationary shock which destroyed Weimar Germany and paved the way for Hitler. The fascists are now in the wings, waiting for the opportunity to make their move. The fascists on the Right, typified by Cheney and the howling mob around Fox News; and the fascists on the Left, typified by Rohatyn, Soros, and Gore, are but two sides of the same coin. The only alternative to that is a return to the American System policies of Hamilton, Lincoln, FDR, and LaRouche. Either the U.S. government steps in and asserts its sovereignty to put the financial system through bankruptcy, or the financier oligarchy will put the government through bankruptcy. If the former, we can quickly begin rebuilding our nation and the world; if the latter, we will soon have a much more sensuous understanding of how the Nazis came to power in Germany.

Julian Delasantellis of Asian Times Online has a problem with the Fed's current and recent past policies concerning the prime rate (excerpt):

"....If he's not going to cut rates to support the economy, then the only conclusion you can make regarding [US Federal Reserve chairman Ben]Bernanke's policy intentions is that he is going to cut the sinking economy free. The chairman and the board apparently intend to row away in their comfortable lifeboat as the economy around them screams and drowns. If you think that no society could be so callous as to let millions of its most vulnerable citizens suffer the harsh gales of casino capitalism's vicissitudes, you haven't been watching much American social and political debate recently. Rapidly, the subprime mortgage crisis, and the misery and heartache it is delivering to hundreds of thousands of struggling American homeowners every month, is falling from the American public's all too brief attention spans - the only endangered homeowner who gets media attention these days for his housing woes is former Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon, facing imminent foreclosure on his $6 million Beverly Hills mansion. The Congressional housing foreclosure relief bill sponsored by Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts is, like most Democratic Party initiatives since the party's takeover of Congress early in 2007, stalling under the weight of well-worn Republican legerdemain and obfuscation, not to mention the likely veto that awaits it from President George W Bush. Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky held up the bill to make sure that no government monies in it would go to illegal aliens, drug offenders, or sex offenders (and definitely not to someone who was simultaneously all three). Obviously, public demands for relief from the housing crisis have not yet reached a level sufficiently insistent that Republicans are going to stop pitching raw red meat into the foaming mouths of their political base, the so-called "values voters". Publicity over the housing crisis has been replaced by impotent panic over sky-high gas prices (not that the bitterly polarized Congress is going to do anything about that, either) and a new particularly American phenomenon; the abundant amount of hate, venom and vitriol pouring out from the men of God in the pulpits of the nation’s most popular and well-attended houses of worship. If I owned a business that needed a rapid US economic recovery to remain solvent, or a house that needed some price appreciation real soon to be able to be refinanced, or even a stock portfolio insufficiently hedged with ether foreign currency or foreign stock and gold holdings, I’d be looking at the events of late last week with the highest possible levels of trepidation. No salvation to these problems is likely to be seen by looking east to the Potomac, to the nation’s dysfunctional seat of government in Washington. I’d look the other way, over the Pacific, to China and the other newly and rapidly industrializing economies. Export demand from these nations is now just about the only thing keeping the American economy away from the abyss.

Not that this is breaking news these days, but still, when 1 out of 11 mortgages are in serious trouble, you just cannot ignore it anymore. You may not have mortgage payment problems, or you may live in rent-controlled housing, but you're going to get zinged by this housing crisis, one way or the other. That subprime line on the graph below of course will eventually come back down, but the damage it's causing on its way up will take years to overcome.

Here's a trailer to a movie I just saw. A testament to the grotesque inequality of farming wages around the world and why we need strong fair trade laws:

Some food for thought. Here's an excerpt from a speech by William Blum given at the "Building a new world" conference at Radford University, Virginia, May 23, 2008.

...In the Cold War, the United States defeated what was known as the International Communist Conspiracy. The legacy of the Cold War is still with us; it keeps coming up, often used by conservatives in one way or another as an argument in support of the War on Terror. Let me take you back a bit now. If you think what you have now is government lying and deceit, let me tell you that in my day, during the cold war, the big lie, the big huge lie they pounded into our heads from childhood on was that there was something out there called The International Communist Conspiracy, headquarters in Moscow, and active in every country of the world, looking to subvert everything that was decent and holy, looking to enslave us all. That's what they taught us, in our schools, our churches, on radio, TV, newspapers, in our comic books -- The Communist Menace, the red menace, more dangerous than al Qaeda is presented to us today. The Communist Menace was international, you couldn't escape it. And almost every American believed this message unquestioningly. I was a good, loyal anti-communist until I was past the age of 30. In fact, in the 1960s I was working at the State Department planning on becoming a foreign service officer so I could join the battle against communism, until a thing called Vietnam came along and changed my mind, and my life. It was all a con game. There was never any such animal as The International Communist Conspiracy. What there was, was people all over the Third World fighting for economic and political changes which didn't coincide with the needs of the American power elite, and so the US moved to crush those governments and those movements, even though the Soviet Union was playing hardly any role at all in those scenarios. Washington officials of course couldn't say that they were intervening somewhere to block social change, so they called it fighting communism, fighting a communist conspiracy, and of course fighting for freedom and democracy. Just like now the White House can't say that it invaded Iraq to expand the empire, or for the oil, or for the corporations, or for Israel, so it says it's fighting terrorism. Remember: The cold war ended in 1991 ... the International Communist Conspiracy was no more ... no more red threat ... and nothing changed in American foreign policy. Since that time the US has been intervening, bombing, and overthrowing governments just as often as during the cold war. What does that tell you? It tells me that the so-called "communist threat" was just a ploy, an excuse for American imperialism. Keep this in mind: Following its bombing of Iraq in 1991 -- after the cold war was ended -- the United States wound up with military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Following its bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the United States wound up with military bases in Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary, Bosnia and Croatia. Following its bombing of Afghanistan in 2001-2, the United States wound up with military bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Yemen and Djibouti. Following its bombing and invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States wound up with Iraq. This is not very subtle foreign policy. It's certainly not covert. The men who run the American Empire are not easily embarrassed. And that's the way the empire grows -- a base in every region, ready to be mobilized to put down any threat to imperial rule, real or imagined. 63 years after World War II ended, the United States still has major bases in Germany and Japan; 55 years after the end of the Korean War, tens of thousands of American armed forces continue to be stationed in South Korea.

See the chart below? Isn't it cute? Well, it actually portends the next massive hit to our economy, starting around Spring, 2009. Go here for all the interesting facts.

FRIDAY F U N

• 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo
• Floating airports could solve many pollution/noise/land use problems.
• A photo tour of lost cities
• Wasps make caterpillars their slaves.
• No, I didn't say "numbnut", you numbnut.
• And finally, here's a humorous take on an increasingly serious situation in our nation:

It's getting close to that time where Democrats start ratcheting up their excitement and hopes for a Democratic President. In case you haven't noticed, it now happens every four years.

In 2000 Gore was a shoe-in for the White House, actually winning the election. Remember how excited we all were that the good times looked like they were going to continue? Unfortunately the corrupt U.S. Supreme Court possessed the W.H. keys and decided to hand them over to Bush, election results be damned.

Remember how we all knew Bush was all washed up four years later? Kerry won the election in 2004, but unfortunately fell victim to the electronic voting establishment, which was illegally programmed to only let Bush stay in the White House.

So, what's it going to be this time around? What horrifically illegal shenanigans are the Republicans going to use to keep Obama out of the Oval Office? There's no way an old geezer like McCain, who grimaces and stumbles over his lines even when reading from a teleprompter, will look "presidential" next to Obama. Therefore, the neocon powers-that-be will be coming up with some new method of thwarting the anticipated climax of Democratic redemption this November. I'm just wondering what deviant, deplorable scheme they're going to pull out of the gutter this time.

Tell me your predictions in the comments.

This is literally highway robbery by the oil companies:


Prices normally rise so steeply only when there are product shortages. Seen any gas lines lately? Neither have I. This is nothing but pure price gouging by big oil and we sheeple will continue to pay through the nose until there is a true consumer revolt, be it in the form of demanding hybrid or all-electric cars, taking mass transit, or just driving a lot less.