Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Tuesday, May 13^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from Publilius Syrus who said, "It is kindness immediately to refuse what you intend to deny."

Some observations on the news...

President Bush has condemned the Burma generals for failing to facilitate the international delivery of aid. "Either they are isolated or callous. There's no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response." From the United Nations Ban Ki-moon called the government response "unacceptably slow." Well yeah, and the country should have been dealt with strongly by the international community 20years ago. That point aside however, there is the issue of not insulting these miscreants at the very time you need their cooperation.

What hasn't been mentioned at the top of the China earthquake stories is that the Three Gorges Dam isn't far away from the epicenter. There were many shrill warnings about the danger of building a dam in that earthquake-prone areas. I mentioned this to my list, and heard back from colleague Andrew Reinbach who wondered with sarcastic neo-con practicality, "what--you're against jobs?"

The Pakistani government is facing another hit. The cabinet members loyal to ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced their withdrawal yesterday. At issue, at least in part, is the reinstatement of judges who were summarily dismissed by Pervez Musharref last year. Questions also remain about how much power the judiciary should have.

Senate Democratic leaders sent a letter to President Bush on his way to the Middle East prodding him to prod Saudi Arabia to pump more oil. "We urge you to use this opportunity to request that the Saudi government take steps to reduce the record high prices American drivers are paying for gasoline at the pump and urge them to take steps to bring those prices down as rapidly as possible." It’s just political posturing and a very bad idea. Like the McCain-Clinton federal gas tax vacation. The result of both plans would be to burn more gasoline and produce more violent climate change.

General Ricardo Sanchez has written his version of what went wrong in Iraq. No doubt many reviewers of the many books by the many decision-makers of this incredible disaster had the same inclination to remind, as did Max Boot in his review in the Washington Post, that "Victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan. As if to validate that old adage, the first few years of the Iraq War have produced a spate of memoirs that amount to denials of paternity." Sanchez, like many before him, blames everyone but himself for what went wrong.

Testimony before Congress yesterday said what many of us long presumed, that the Bush Administration looked the other way when told of massive corruption by the Maliki government. According to two former State Department employees tasked with rooting out and reporting corruption by the Iraqis, the White House ignored substantial charges against many top people in the puppet government, apparently not wanting Maliki to be embarrassed by the facts. Conservative estimates of the price tag of the corruption are around $20 billion, though when a full and honest accounting is made, the cost will likely be ten times than amount, but only if we cut the Iraqi officials a great deal of presumptive slack.

It's benignly – or even patriotically – called stop-loss. It's the Army telling recruits that though their contracted enlistment term is up, they have to remain in the military. The Army began this policy of arbitrarily postponing exit dates five years ago when it discovered it didn't have the troops to replace those whose enlistment time was up. Almost 60,000 soldiers were required to remain in uniform, often in Iraq and Afghanistan, because the Army couldn't find enough trained people to replace them. The stop-loss program, referred to by critics as a backdoor draft, reached a high of almost 16,000 in March of 2005. The numbers fell to 8,500 in May of last year, but this past March were back up to 12,200. Military secretary Gates says the Army doesn't have a choice, "They don't like it any better than I do. But it has proven necessary in order to maintain the force." Yeah, well, and not liking it even more than Gates and the Army are those whom they are kidnapping.

A new poll from the Washington Post-ABC says that 16% think the country is headed in the right direction and 31% approve of Bush’s presidency. One wonders what would happen to those numbers if Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, and Fox were off the air for three months. John McCain remains in the running only because people don’t realize how much he has supported the White House agenda; he voted with the president 95% of the time. Come the fall, he’ll face a choice of breaking with the administration and causing disaffection among the neo-cons or staying with them and alienating the vast majority of the country. He’ll probably try to do both.

In a Washington Post column, Marc Fisher raises significant questions about how the Fine Arts Commission has gone about designing and producing the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial that's supposed to be built next year at the Tidal Basin in our nation's capital. To start with, the commission for the statue was given to a Chinese sculptor; it's being constructed in China by ten Chinese workers. Why, for goodness sakes, isn't something so American in meaning not being produced by our own artisans? And for that matter, out of American rock? Second, the design of the statue of King has him in something of an arrogant pose with his arms crossed. As Fisher notes, look through all of the photos of King and you never see him looking like that. So hello, a depiction of someone should depict that someone. The commission has told the Chinese sculptor in a letter that they are unhappy with the design. They say that the original concept was to capture King as "dynamic in stance, meditative in character" but the sculpture they're producing "features a stiffly frontal image, static in pose, confrontational in character." Fisher says that most of the criticism to date has come from blacks and the U.S. granite industry; he says whites are afraid to comment for fear of being called racist. If that's the case, shame on those who might have spoken up and didn’t. This isn't about race, it's about our nation's history and an honest representation of one of our greatest leaders. Surely skin color has nothing to do with it, whether white, black or yellow. Fisher is right to call for the contract with China to be cancelled and to be brought back home to the country that will display the image of an American who changed America.

One of the best columnists in the state took a shot at the Los Angeles County Supervisors for voting new restrictions against taco trucks. These are the vehicles that park near job sites and sell food to the workers. Dan Walters called the crackdown "misguided," calling it, a "new chapter in an old and dreary story of political interference with the economic aspirations of low-income and/or immigrant Californians." The supes were responding to the complaints of restaurants whose businesses are compromised by the truck sales. Walters says it's all just competition, but the fact is that many of these businesses are just getting by, especially these days, and they don't have the flexibility to relocate closer to the customer base.

Chip Johnson doesn't have much good to say about the people leading Vallejo. The San Francisco Chronicle columnist said they should have seen the economic crisis coming a long time ago, soon enough to avoid having to file for bankruptcy, which is what the city council voted for last week. The problem, as Johnson notes, is when you allocated 74% of the general fund for police and fire, their ain't much left. The bankruptcy should enable the city to void the union contracts. He says Vallejo isn't alone in supplicating to the police and fire unions. Oakland is in a similar predicament, and facing yet another crime wave is seeking to hire more police which would increase the percentage of their budget going to public safety to 80%. Make it 100% and the city still won't be safe. Many businesses are taking responsibility for their own security, but that won't reduce the city's police bill.

He was arguably the smartest man in the history of the species and now a letter written by Albert Einstein to philosopher Eric Gutkind in 1954 and reported in The Guardian reveals some of his thoughts about religion. Einstein declared that belief in God is a "childish superstition"and "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." In the letter, Einstein also said, "For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people." Previously, Einstein had been quoted as saying "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

Star Jones, who should add "tarnished" to her name, is most unhappy with Barbara Walters' new kick-‘n-tell-all memoir. In it, the 77-year-old Walters says that Jones, one of the hens on "The View" gossip-eria, refused to admit on the show that she had gastric bypass surgery. BaWa also chastises Jones' for her lavish wedding, the discussion of which apparently upset viewers because Jones took gifts from givers she mentioned on the air. Jones didn't see things quite the way the book reported them, but made the mistake of so many people who feel a need to respond to bad coverage, not realizing that the response brings more light to the issues. Said Jones, "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character." In fact she’s right, but it’s all really pick-a-little, talk-a-little, pick-a-little, talk-a-little, pick, pick, pick, carp, carp, carp.

 

If you know others who you think might be interested in what's reported here, please forward this to them, or they can find it on-line.

If you have comments, please send to me an email.

Respectfully,

Tony Seton

* * * * * * *

Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Monday, May 12^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from Edna St. Vincent Millay who said, "It is not true that life is one damn thing after another – it is one damn thing over and over."

Some observations on the news...

Bill McKibben has a very powerful essay in the Los Angeles Times entitled "Civilization's last chance" in which he reports that "The planet is nearing a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast." My friend Wayne Fuller commented, "Unfortunately, this article will probably be greeted with the kind of yawn all the other articles are that warn us of the dire consequences of global warming. However, the boiling point is emerging fast and it will be a test of the human species to see if we can change quickly enough to survive. I don’t know what the answer it but right now it doesn’t seem promising. More likely...every one will be racing down the freeway at 80 m.p.h. complaining about the price of gas." Indeed, we’re in very serious trouble, with our decision-makers not telling us the truth let alone leading us in a different direction to save ourselves.

It's probably that Hillary Clinton is just getting tired and doesn't know what she's saying, or maybe just it's part of a pattern with the Clintons. Here's how Bob Herbert put it: "Their repertoire has always been deficient in grace and class. So there was Hillary Clinton cold-bloodedly asserting to USA Today that she was the candidate favored by ‘hard-working Americans, white Americans,' and that her opponent, Barack Obama, the black candidate, just can't cut it with that crowd. ‘There's a pattern emerging here,' said Mrs. Clinton." Hebert went on to say that as a nation we have made considerable strides in shifting our former racial attitudes. Most believe we have shifted them far enough to elect a black president. Despite the Clintons' worst efforts

Ted Kennedy was blunt when he was asked about whom Obama should pick for his vice presidential running mate. Kennedy said Obama should choose someone who was "in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people," adding, "If we had real leadership — as we do with Barack Obama — in the No. 2 spot as well, it'd be enormously helpful." Rahm Emanuel, an uncommitted House leader, chastised Kennedy for the remarks, believing them to be harsh. Kennedy's office put out a statement claiming they were taken out of context and, um, clarifying them by saying, "Senator Kennedy believes Senator Clinton is qualified to be vice president but doesn't think it's likely given the tenor of the campaign."

John McCain considers it a negative that Hamas thinks Obama would be a better choice in the White House, plying that Obama must support Hamas. McCain should be a shamed of himself. The fact that Hamas believes Obama could be good for them isn't a bad thing. We know that Israel isn't leaving, so if Hamas is going to be happier with Obama's leadership, it means they would expect a better life for the people in Gaza...with Israel as a neighbor. Which would require peace, or at least more of it.

Comcast is being chastised for not letting a candidate running against Nancy Pelosi in the June 3rd primary to air an ad that referred to the House Speaker as having a rubber spine. (This was discussed in a SetonnoteS last week.) It was a cheesy ad and shouldn't have been produced. That said, Comcast shouldn't have blocked it from airing, especially during the Keith Olbermann program where the candidate might have found some supporters. After all, Comcast puts out entire networks of pure trash. Surely a few seconds in a thirty-second commercial running a few times during the last three weeks of the campaign aren't going to cause any serious emotional dislocation. And this final thought, Nancy Pelosi should make a stink about this, call on Comcast to run the ad in the spirit of free speech. It would be noble, and she’d win more votes than the ad would cost her, in a race she should win with maybe 8-% of the vote.

You may not like Rupert Murdoch's politics, and the role that Fox has played in propagandizing the policies of the Bush administration has bordered on treason, but the Australian media magnate seems to have considerable business acumen. So the fact that he didn't seriously pursue Yahoo and now has dropped his bid for Newsday, the Long Island newspaper being unloaded by the Tribune Company is worth note. His company withdrew its $580 million offer, refusing to overcall Cablevision's $650 million bid, calling the deal "uneconomical."

Most people think what goes on in Washington is, as Arnold Weinstein once said, "too complex to brave the epistemological vicissitudes of journalism." Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle puts that premise to lie in her reporting on the disgrace in Congress known as the ag bill. You can tell how screwed up the bill is because the president is right in promising to veto it. The measure contains about $40 billion a year in subsidies, mostly for grain farmers who are already reaping record profits. The problem is that many representatives of farming interests, from both sides of the aisle, have held out for their own state's benefits, and the result is that food stamps and programs to aid organic farmers and local fruit and vegetable growers have been held hostage.

Ariana Huffington said on her site this week that John McCain told her he hadn't voted from George Bush in 2000. McCain denies he said it. Other people at the event at which he was quoted by her said they heard him say it, too. The point, as Huffington notes, is not for whom he voted, but the fact that he's not telling the truth. For the record, this is a common complain about McCain, and a serious issue. One can expect during the fall campaign that myriad examples of his misspeaking will appear, audio and video, and will further degrade the integrity of his candidacy. At least among voters who prize the truth.

It's surprising that H-P survived Carly Fiorina. The former CEO who made the disastrous Compaq acquisition – hey, the boat is sinking quick, grab the anchor – was on a Sunday talk show touting the McCain-Clinton plan to suspend the federal gas tax. Like other erstwhile defenders of the plan before her, she couldn't name a single economist who thought the plan was even reasonable, so this chairwoman of the RNC's 2008 fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts declared, "I don't think it matters," saying that economists "sometimes argue about the theory." Yeah, but there's only arguing when there are two sides, madam, and this idea was so dumb, there are no economists on your side.

Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's campaign chair, said he thought that Obama probably has the nomination sewn up, but he's still pushing for his candidate. He said on one of the Sunday talks, "I believe we will be ahead in the popular vote." But he meant if the votes in Florida and Michigan were counted. First of all, neither candidate campaigned in either state so the one with all the name recognition was going to get the majority of the votes. Also, Clinton's name was on the ballot in Michigan and Obama's was not. So, um, like there was no contest and hence, those votes don't count and shouldn’t.

The Clinton campaign not only lacks votes but its coffers are empty. Worse than that, despite the candidate having put more than $11 million into her campaign, they are now admitting being $20 million in debt. You can figure that figure is low and doesn’t count at least that much more that’s committed for the remaining primaries. If they think Obama is going to agree to pay all their bills to get her out of the race, they’re in for a surprise. Said David Axelrod, Obama’s top campaign consultant on a Sunday talk, "I don't think even under any scenario...that we were going to transfer money from the Obama campaign to the Clinton campaign. We obviously need the resources we have. We have a great task ahead of us."

Robin Abcarian had a revealing piece in the Los Angeles Times about Jean Houston, one of the leading intellectual minds of the New Age, and her take on the collapse of the Clinton campaign. Houston had been a spiritual advisor to the Clintons, especially Hillary, in the mid-90s. When their connection was revealed – it was termed Wackygate – the Clintons pulled away from Houston. Big mistake. Houston had moved Clinton to some of her greatest early triumphs, and in the article had some interesting points to make about her failure to embrace the female qualities of life, something Obama has been doing better than she. (A point that had been previously made in these pages on more than one occasion.)

As many as 600 students were involved in a lunchtime brawl at a Los Angeles high school Friday. Apparently it was browns versus blacks and many students were caught in the middle. Fights are a regular thing at this school. Police arrested four students as a result of the melee. The riot came on the same day that residents in another Los Angeles neighborhood discovered the windows on more than 50 vehicles had been shot out overnight with pellet guns. Police have no suspects but say it's the sort of thing they're used to happening toward the end of the school year.

Auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's soothed the nerves of those concerned about the market for high-priced art slipping with the rest of the economy. An 1873 Monet – "It is the quintessential early Monet," said the auctioneer – went for a record $41.4 million and Munch's "Girls on a Bridge" went for a record $30.8 million. It should hardly be a surprise that these works are fetching these prices, since the let-them-eat-cake crowd don't worry about the price of eggs and gasoline. They live on a quintessentially different economic planet.

I don't suppose there are a lot of people who, before boarding a plane, have to think to themselves, "Hmm, do I need to worry about the gun in my luggage?" Every so often one of those who needed to ask the question either didn't ask it or got the answer wrong. Take Dennis Farina, which authorities did at Los Angeles International Airport. They found a .22 handgun in his carry-on luggage. The booked him with a $25,000 bail. Then they found out the gun wasn't registered. The charge was upgraded to a felony and bail was upgraded by $10,000. So what if he was on "Law and Order" and was way back when a real-life cop in Chicago? That didn't seem to matter to the airport folks either.

If you didn’t get enough of Mother’s Day, it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. John Kelly had a lengthy piece in the Post about mothers and their recognition. In it he talked about the woman who promulgated the celebration who went on to sue those card makers and flower venders who exploited it. "Like all good wild-eyed visionaries, she died penniless in a sanitarium. Naturally, she was buried next to her mother. As for children, she never had any."

If you know others who you think might be interested in what's reported here, please forward this to them, or they can find it on-line.

If you have comments, please send to me an email.

Respectfully,

Tony Seton

* * * * * * *

Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Friday, May 9^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from Murray Aaron Stone who said, "We have so over-loaded our ship of state with armaments that it has started to sink."

Just some observations on the news...

Power and paranoia are a tragic combination. Witness Myanmar where authorities are refusing to allow the United Nations to distribute aid to the tens of thousands of their people displaced by the cyclone.

We do not have to worry about Iran. The country is about to go through considerable upheaval, and why? It's the economy, stupid. The Shiite clerics are openly taking shots at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, questioning his use of Islamic figures to justify his policies. Said one of the religions leaders, "If, God forbid, Ahmadinejad means that Imam Zaman supports the government's actions, this is wrong. Certainly Imam Zaman would not accept 20 percent inflation rates, nor would he support it or many other mistakes that exist in the country today." Ahmadinejad is up for re-election next year and methinks he will be tossed out on his ear, hopefully sooner than later, to undermine Washington’s campaign for an attack.

Ehud Olmert says he didn't take illegal contributions from an American Jewish businessman. The Israeli prime minister said in a nationally-televised address, "I am looking at all of you in the eye, and I say I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself." He said his lawyers handled everything. Olmert also said he would resign if he were indicted.

It's hard to tell the players without a scorecard, whether you're manning the do-not-fly terrorist suspect list at the Transportation Safety (sic) Administration or the arrest desk in Mosul. Yesterday the Iraqi government claimed the arrest of the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq. Today the U.S. Government said, um, well, no, it was just a man of the same name.

In March the Pentagon named Major General Jay Hood to become the top U.S. officer in Pakistan to deal with Al Qaeda and Taliban in their so-called tribal areas. But Hood won't be going to Pakistan. When the local press heard that he had been in charge of Guantanamo and how Muslim prisoners – including Pakistanis – were treated there during his tenure they excoriated him, creating enough dissent that Hood's name was quietly withdrawn.

Clinton's margin of victory in Indiana was only 14,000 votes. Some people are saying it was the Republicans crossing over to roil the Democrats at the behest of Rush Limbaugh who made the difference. They could well have been. A close look at the numbers from both Indiana and North Carolina indicates that Obama not only might have won The Hoosier State without the right-wing "Operation Chaos" intervention, but his victory in The Tarheel State" might have been even greater. Limbaugh, by the way, in addition to taking credit for keeping Clinton in the race, is now saying he wants Obama to be the candidate the Republicans face in the fall. Yeah, well, and maybe all his "ditto-heads" will move down to Florida and we can than give The Sunshine State to Cuba.

(Politically) dead woman walking...before small crowds in West Virginia on Thursday. Also, Clinton's campaign chairman said on national televison that the nomination would be wrapped up shortly after June 3rd. Meanwhile Obama visited Capitol Hill for what was described as something of a victory lap. Ya gotta think that her people and his people have already started discussions on her getting out of his way. What would Obama offer? To pay off her campaign debts, now somewhere around $15 million? Would he let her write the health plank for his platform? That's what colleague Steve Pizzo was thinking, and it wouldn't be a bad idea. Go for broke, Miz Clinton and deliver what you mucked up so badly in 1993:a universal single payer system. Also, it is speculated, her people might want a piece of the selection process around the second slot. She ain't gonna get that. As Pal Pizzo said, "Obama has to appear respectful in public. But in private his people need to talk to her people the way one mob boss's crew talks to the losing mob's crew."

Doctor Dean went overboard again. This time, responding to Cindy McCain's declaration that she wouldn't release her tax returns. The Obamas and the Clintons both file jointly and both released their returns, though it should be noted that there is much to the Clinton financial picture that hasn't been released – especially regarding contributions to the presidential library by pardon-ees. The McCain's have a pre-nup in place and have always filed separately. He declared about $405,000 last year. She's reported to be worth $100 million as the heiress to a beer distributing company. Though there are some issues with her letting him use her company's jet last summer and fall when campaign funds were tight, perhaps even illegally, her returns certainly don't need to be revealed to show a true picture of the McCain's financial picture. But the DNC chairman put out a statement which said, "What is John McCain trying to hide? Throughout this campaign, he has acted like his own calls for openness and accountability apply to everyone but himself. Now he thinks he can bring that same double standard to the White House." Horse-hockey, Howard. McCain is not his wife and doesn’t control her finances. Focus instead on how the DNC mucked up the primary season – especially Florida and Michigan – how they failed to rein in spending in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and how they have let the Clintons run amok. Fix the Democratic National Committee before you worry about the McCain Missus’ fortune.

John Edwards, whose endorsement was sought ardently by both Clinton and Obama, demonstrated his continuing poor sense of timing by waiting until today to say nice things about the frontrunner on morning television. Had he come out before the North Carolina vote, he might have taken credit for the big win there; might actually have contributed to it. Anyway, said the former presidential candidate of the likely nominee, "What he brings to the table is the capacity, number one, to unite the Democratic Party. Number two, to bring in new voters, to bring in people who haven't been involved in the process over a long time and to get people excited about this change."

Averell "Ace" Smith was brought in to run Clinton's op research effort. That's where the person digs up as much dirt as possible on the opposition. He struggled with Obama, who aside from being a dark-skinned intellectual with the middle name of "Hussein" who attended a church led by a preacher with a sanity issue, didn't present much of a target. Smith went on to manage Clinton's efforts in a number of states, most recently in North Carolina. The campaign put out all sorts of "turn-around" expectations, saying that Clinton could actually come from behind and with the help of lower-income, less-educated, older white people and gender-obsessed women voters beat Obama and head off to capture the nomination in Denver. Indeed, they would have claimed a victory if they held the point count to single digits. But the Clinton charm lacked the requisite oomph and Obama beat her by almost 15 points. Even after those results Smith insisted that quitting the race for Clinton was "not an option." It's that kind of thinking, and fealty, that costs our society so dearly.

Ralph Nader should go enjoy an over-night with Jack Kervorkian. The once notable consumer activist who single-handedly could have prevented the installation of George Bush in the White House is now supporting Clinton's obstinacy in refusing to get out of the Democratic primary race. As quoted in Rosa Brooks' piece yesterday, Nader instructed Clinton, "Don't listen to people when they tell you not to run anymore. That's just political bigotry. Listen to your own inner citizen First Amendment voice. This is America. Just like every other citizen, you have a right to run. Whenever you like. For as long as you like." Nader is one of those damaged souls who don't want to be alone at the bottom of the rotten apple barrel. He wants company. Clinton would be an appropriate choice, but she has at least a little more sense than he and will likely exit to staunch the flow of donkey blood well before it would make a difference in November.

When asked about Clinton's chances, a poly sci prof at Berkeley said she was at the end of the road. Jack Citrin observed, "They say it's not over until the fat lady sings, [but after Tuesday's results] "the fat lady is doing her scales."

The House of Representatives has passed a housing bailout bill designed, theoretically, to help a half-million people who are in over their head, including many whose houses are worth less than their mortgages. The bill would let the FHA take on $300 billion in new debt from homeowners facing foreclosure, enabling them to refinance properties that banks won't. The bill passed 266-164, with 39 Republicans joining the Democrats, but the president has promised to veto the measure if it ever gets to his desk, and that’s not nearly a veto-proof margin.

One of the problems our next president is going to have to face, one that has been bubbling over for years, is that of immigration, especially the illegal kind from across our southern border, where life has gotten cheaper and more deadly. Mexico's acting federal police chief was shot to death outside his home in broad daylight yesterday, probably by drug traffickers. Two bodyguards were wounded. Fifteen people were shot to death in Tijuana last week. The situation is clearly out of control, and the ramifications for us are not good. The drug traffickers get rich and become violent because there is such an enormous market for their product in the United States. All of it would go away if we would only decriminalize drug use. We would also dramatically reduce ancillary crime – the robberies and burglaries committed to get money for drugs, plus a lot of prostitution – if we would only stop squandering precious resources trying to stop people from using drugs. Other benefits would include a dramatic reduction in police corruption, and we'd empty our prisons out, saving tens of billions of dollars a year and leaving space for violent felons. It would be much cheaper and healthier for the nation – and for all the drug producing countries around the world – if we were to treat addicts as medical cases rather than as criminals.

Thirteen out of 15 Philadelphia policemen involved in the arrest of three men suspected in a cop killing last weekend have been taken off the streets pending an investigation of the beating of those suspects. The beating was captured by a television camera in a helicopter overhead. Al Sharpton took to the airwaves, claiming that the beatings were racially motivated since the three victims were black. Philadelphia's police commissioner, noting that one of the cops was black, declared, "I know everybody's trying to make this into a racial thing. I don't believe it is. We just had a policeman murdered on Saturday ... and emotions are running high." A 39-year-old sergeant was killed while responding to a bank robbery. It's not clear if the suspects were involved in the cop-killing but one had just been seen involved in a drug-related triple shooting. Sharpton had already been arrested in New York City this week for leading a protest against acquittals of police for shooting a black man in 2006. Two of those cops were black.

We reported earlier this week that a Congressman from the party that used to label itself as the "family values" party got caught driving at twice the legal alcohol limit. Alas, Vito Fossella of Staten Island and Brooklyn told the police at the time of his arrest that he was on his way to visit his daughter. Well, not one of the daughters the public knows about. Apparently this child was born to a woman with whom he’d been carrying on a lengthy affair. It was she who came to bail him out of jail for the DUI. Fossella insists that he will not resign his Congressional seat. Yes, perhaps, but he’s not likely to win if he runs for re-election.

 

If you know others who you think might be interested in what's reported here, please forward this to them, or they can find it on-line.

If you have comments, please send to me an email.

Respectfully,

Tony Seton

* * * * * * *

Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Thursday, May 8^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from Robert Louis Stevenson who said, "It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something – that quality of air, that emanation from old trees – that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."

Some observations on the news...

The death toll in Myanmar may reach 100,000 according to the latest estimates. It may or may not be climate change that caused such a disaster. What is clear is that the government there has not been forthcoming about the scope of the problems nor have they been facilitating international relief efforts. Also, a British report said that prisoners who were trying to escape their inundated cellblock who were shot by police, with dozens killed and scores wounded.

Silvio Berlusconi has formed a new Italian government, again. His cabinet will be sworn in today then to face a seriously troubled economy and a mounting pile of rubbish. No really, no one seems to know what to do about Naples inability to dispose of their garbage.

The Iraq government is planning for an exodus of refugees from east Baghdad as their army, backed by American troops and aircraft, continues its attack on militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. As a result of the new fighting, a thousand people have been killed and more 2,500 wounded. Most of them haven’t been military but civilians.

The Clinton campaign is on the ropes, regardless of what the campaign or the candidate say. It reminds one of the end of the film "Inherit the Wind" when Matthew Harrison Brady is trying to preach after the sentence has been handed down, but the courtroom has had enough and is emptying in front of him. Things do fall apart just before the epilogue. Here’s a Washington Post description of q suddenly-arranged Clinton stop in West Virginia yesterday. "The signs of a last-minute event were everywhere. Security was minimal, and problems with the sound system gave the Clinton staff fits; it didn't help that one of the men working the sound system wore an Obama T-shirt." In the film, Frederic March keeled over dead from a heart attack.

Dianne Feinstein was an early and vocal supporter of Clinton. The California Senator sent the candidate a message talking to the Los Angeles Times saying, "I have great fondness and great respect for Sen. Clinton, and I'm very loyal to her. That said, I'd like to talk with her and get her view on the rest of the race and what the strategy is for proceeding." Added Feinstein, "I think the race is reaching the point now where there are negative dividends from it, in terms of strife within the party."

Rosa Brooks has an excellent piece about the right to run versus it not being right to run. The confusion is in our blood. "Tell an American he shouldn't do something, and odds are he'll respond by insisting that it's his ‘right’ to do it, regardless of how pointless, destructive, offensive or downright stupid it may be."

Henry Paulson seems to be singing ding-dong the witch is dead, but he’d be referring to the credit crunch. Why on god’sgreenearth does he think it’s over? That suddenly everyone is going to be able to afford their mortgage payment when they’ve lost their jobs and a barrel of crude is over $120? If it were only the rising price of crude we’d still be in trouble trying to amortize that added cost of transportation into an economy in which the average retail product travels 1100 miles. But there’s also the matter of food prices soaring at the grain level, and that’s not something that just goes away either. Or even stands still.

It maybe be desperation or just easy pickings, but across the country there are increasing numbers of reports of thefts of basic metalware. These thefts put many people in danger and cause far more damage than profit. Abandoned houses have their walls torn open for the copper pipes and wiring. Manhole covers are being taken in Los Angeles, highway lighting is being stripped of its wires, and in the Bay Area, a $10 brass spigot was stolen causing a toxic spill that cost $250,000 to clean up. The metal is often sold to China, not directly of course, and therein lies the solution. People are buying the stuff, melting it down and shipping it. They wouldn’t be doing it if they couldn’t get away with it. It’s time to up the penalties so that it would be more costly to buy the stolen goods than to process them.

Amy Winehouse is a grammy-award winning singer who seems to spend as much time with the police as performing concerts. Okay, that’s hyperbole, but she was arrested yet again and for drugs again. With so many arrests, one wonders if she’ll formally shift her style to rap.

Speaking of which, yet another rap singer, if that’s not an oxymoron, having trouble with the police. DMX – his real name is Earl Simmons – was caught on camera doing over 100 mph in his bright yellow 1966 Chevrolet Nova II and charged with criminal speeding, public endangerment, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license. Not only was the car bright yellow and the speed triple-digit but there was a large "DMX" decal on the windshield. Sometimes they give the cops an unfair advantage.

Local governments across the country are getting squeezed not only by declining tax revenues from declining property values but like the rest of us at the pump. All levels of government have a lot of folks driving hither and yon, spending more of our hard-earned on gasoline. There are obvious ways to reduce our consumption. For instance, cut back postal deliveries from six to two days a week. Take more police out of patrol cars and put them on foot. Require and municipal employees to take public transportation more often.

It's not easy to quit smoking, hard for some people than others. The fact is that you just have to stop. The biggest urge is usually gone in just a matter of days, if you stay away from others who smoke and clean the smell out of your living and work areas. This is why we should ban cigarette smoking in public places nationwide. If you use chemical aids to quit, be careful about what you try, especially the strong stuff that requires a prescription. The federal government is telling doctors that it recommends the drug Chantix for people trying to quit, but that people with emotional problems needed to be particular careful since the drug is linked to depression and suicidal behavior. Chantix...you can't smoke when you're dead.

Another study makes clear what seems obvious, that if you get a good night's sleep you will be healthier. The research indicates that people who get fewer than six hours or more than nine hours are more likely to be smokers and to be obese. Those who slept seven or eight hours were less likely to smoke. It wasn't quite clear from the report, but the inference was that people who smoke are less likely to sleep well, as were people who drank to excess, didn't get enough exercise, and were overweight. The non-sleeping then compounded other health problems. As I say, it wasn't clear but it was obvious. Stop smoking, don’t drink too much, get some exercise, lose weight, sleep the right amount, live longer, healthier and happier. People got paid to figure that out.

SetonnoteS

One of my favorite films is "Brainstorm" which featured Christopher Walken, Natlie Wood, who died during the filming, Louise Fletcher and Cliff Robertson. It's about science and reading minds, and corporate interests merging with the military. A most entertaining film that treads in some interesting areas. But I mention it because at the denouement, one of the government flunkies has been outflanked by the white hats and Robertson tells him to let go, he's been beaten.

That's what her closest friends and advisors should be telling Hillary Clinton. If they are, she isn't taking their advice. Not only should she end her bid now, but she should have dropped out of the race in January after the South Carolina primary or at least in February. Staying in the game wasn't quixotic, it was destructive of her own reputation, the Democratic Party, and her country. The nation will recover – we have a remarkably short political memory – but the party is irrevocably damaged and her own image will always have that asterisk leading to the observation that if only she had done the right thing sooner.

The fact that she has remained in the race underscores a level of ambition that went far beyond unseemly. There was something pathological about her whipping the horse into the ground; yes, ala the poor filly at the Kentucky Derby. A Washington Post writer said she had a locomotive for a heart but champagne-glass ankles. Clinton had the drive to endure the arduous primary schedule, but she demonstrated a lack of character that even those who wanted a woman in the White House inevitably could not countenance. In truth, if she weren't a woman, Clinton wouldn't have gotten half of the votes she did.

Instead she encased herself in a womb of over-priced consultants who kept changing her image in a year when voters didn't want to be sold something in a package. She ostensibly changed out some of her personnel but keeping Wolfson, McAuliffe, Ickes, and yes, Penn, around her has led to the same failed strategy that even loaning her campaign more than $11 million could overcome. The morning after the North Carolina clobbering and the Limbaugh-aided Indiana slip-by, her mouthpieces were bubbling with the same inane palaver as if nothing had changed. It reminded me of the line about the chief morale officer on the Titanic saying, "Not to worry. We're just stopping for ice."

If she had instead eschewed the over-priced consultants and presented a sound and healthy mind and heart to the voters, she would have sewn up the nomination early on. But instead she continued to stick with an approach that never worked. And in that decision, she has truly represented the old school notion of grit and force. In the final week before North Carolina and Indiana, she acted as though she could bull her way through her ebbing support with her readiness to "obliterate" Iran, her bullying of Obama, and her dismissal of all those dang elite economists and editorial writers who saw her gas tax vacation for the low-brow pandering it was. No amount of money or determination could float that boat.

And that's SetonnoteS...for May 8^th.

If you know others who you think might be interested in what's reported here, please forward this to them, or they can find it on-line.

If you have comments, please send to me an email.

Respectfully,

Tony Seton

* * * * * * *

Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Tuesday, May 7^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from Michelangelo who said, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Some observations on the news...

If the results in North Carolina and Indiana are any indication, Clinton is going to get out of the race sooner than later, probably in a couple of weeks. Perhaps she’ll wait until the last primary on June 3^rd, which will also be after the DNC rules committee has met to consider Florida and Michigan again. Clinton threw everything at him, played nasty to the nines. Her husband beat the hustings like an old rug on the line. And still Obama took The Tarheel State by 14 points, half as many more than most of the pollsters were predicting. CBS called The Hoosier State for Clinton early on while the rest of the media waited to see what the vote count would be coming out of late-reporting Gary. According to exit polls in Indiana, Clinton got 60% of the white vote and Obama got 90% of the black vote. Also noted, about 10% of the whites said that race was part of their decision, and from those who admitted such, Clinton got overwhelming support. Clinton got 1,299,654 votes yesterday to Obama’s 1,513,985. It’s pretty clear that the most people casting ballots did not take the Wright and gas tax bait.

I stayed up late reading the news wires, watching as the votes trickled in from Lake County in the northwest corner of Indiana. Then they stopped even trickling. All should have been counted by maybe ten in the evening local time, but final numbers weren’t arrived at until six hours after the polls had closed.. Apparently there were 11,000 absentees to count, and the folks in charge wanted to get it right rather than fast. Or so they said. There was wag-ish speculation that Lake County being right next to Chicago maybe they were counting the way Mayor Daley did during the 1960 presidential election; i.e., you can’t wake the dead, but that doesn’t mean their votes can’t be counted. The final numbers gave Clinton a squeaker of a win – around 25,000 votes out of 1,254,000 cast. And this note, if Limbaugh's ditto-heads hadn't gamed the process in Indiana, Obama would have beaten Clinton there, too. For all their faux patriotism, these political rapscallions are more about winning than maintaining even the semblance of integrity in our elections.

Under a headline, "Pundits Declare the Race Over," Jim Rutenberg in The New York Times notes that commentators began a burn-the-broom party last night. That was the view of most observers, even if they didn't put it in such graphic terms. The piece quoted NBC's Tim Russert saying, "We now know who the Democratic nominee's going to be, and no one's going to dispute it. Those closest to her will give her a hard-headed analysis, and if they lay it all out, they'll say, ‘What is the rationale? What do we say to the undeclared super delegates tomorrow? Why do we tell them you're staying in the race?' And tonight, there's no good answer for that."

It was reported this morning that Clinton has "loaned" her campaign another $6.4 million over the past five weeks, most of it before the Pennsylvania vote. The campaign is in debt and has been for a while. She put $5 million into the effort in January and claimed a huge influx of cash after the Keystone victory. The North Carolina loss will all but dry up whatever remained of that flow. People don’t like to invest in losing causes.

George McGovern today called for Clinton to end her White House bid. The former Senator and 1972 presidential candidate said after watching the returns last night that she couldn’t win. He had been supporting her but is now supporting Obama.

Also noteworthy, John McCain took only 74% of the North Carolina Republican vote. Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul took the rest. In Indiana he took 78% of the vote. Of course, some Republicans crossed over to vote for Clinton, but it’s not clear how many of them would have supported the titular nominee had they voted GOP. You’d think that Republicans would want to make their candidate look stronger.

Here are two examples of how so often the wrong people are attracted to law enforcement. First in Southern California where the feds nabbed 75 students at San Diego State who were involved in selling drugs. Quite brazenly and remarkably stupid. One had sent a text message out to the clientele saying he and his dealing associates were going to Las Vegas so there would be a sale before they left town. Two of the students who were arrested were going into criminology and homeland security. One asked if the arrest would hurt his future plans. The second incident took place in Utah where the Riverdale police chief who was demonstrating technique at headquarters to a class of people qualifying for a concealed-weapons permit accidentally shot himself in the foot. He was holding his Glock under the table to disassemble it when it went off. "I'm hit," he cried and fell over. Students started screaming "Officer Down!" This information comes to us from two students who were subsequently described as "disgruntled" and maybe glad to be alive. Said one of the students, "I think Riverdale police are just trying to keep this quiet and act like the chief is a hero. But if you ask me, he's really stupid. His state certification to teach concealed-weapons classes should be taken away from him. This was totally gross negligence." The other disgruntled student noted that there was a moment of levity during the chaos, observing that an attending policeman joked that "instead of shooting himself, he should have used the Taser."

Tony Blair looked like an obvious pick to become the first president of the European Union, but that may not be. France's president has withdrawn his support for Blair. Nicolas Sarkozy's decision came after a meeting with Germany's Angela Merkel. Apparently a major reason is widespread EU unhappiness with the former British leader for supporting the IraqAttaq. There were also complaints about Britain's failure to adopt the EU's currency and to allow passport-free travel.

Congressman Vito Fossella, a New York City Republican, an oddity in itself in the donkey bastion, was stopped on suspicious of drunk driving. He said he'd had two or three glasses of wine some about two hours earlier. (You can't imagine how many times cops have heard that same line.) He stumbled when he was asked to walk nine steps heel to toe. He stumbled again when he was asked to recite the alphabet from "D" to "T". (A noteworthy choice of letters, wouldn't you say, for someone being tested for inebriation?) But Mr. Fossella, whose blood alcohol later showed .17, twice the legal limit, decided to start the alphabetical recitation with "A, B,". The officer explained what he wanted and when the Congressman started again, it went like this "D, E, F, H, G, H, I, J, L," and then he made it through the rest of the test. Fossella may have to do five days in jail, but he won't resign his Staten Island-Brooklyn seat. He must believe he represents the people of that district. The question is whether the voters’ feeling is mutual.

As discouraging as are the Democrats and the Republicans, the secondary parties don't have a lot to offer at the top of their ballots either. Consider Mary Ruwart, who was thinking she should be the presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party. She wrote a book called "Short Answers to the Tough Questions"; so like libertarians, isn't it? Anyway, answering her own question, "How can a libertarian argue against child pornography?" she wrote, "Children who willingly participate in sexual acts have the right to make that decision as well, even if it's distasteful to us personally. Some children will make poor choices just as some adults do in smoking and drinking to excess. When we outlaw child pornography, the prices paid for child performers rise, increasing the incentives for parents to use children against their will." Yes, well that was a short-lived candidacy.

 

SetonnoteS

I received a pitch for funds by a group supporting a primary challenge to Nancy Pelosi. She's up for confirmation – er, re-nomination – on June 3rd, and most reasonable speculators would anticipate her San Francisco constituents endorsing her with at least 75% of the vote. They email pointed to a new TV spot for the challenger which shows a rubber chicken and declares that Pelosi has a rubber spine on issues like Iraq, impeachment and torture. I tried to write back to these people but the Reply button didn't make it through and when I went to their site to contact "The Team" my note came back because their mailbox was full.

I can't stand this kind of what I presume to be incompetence. If you're flogging this or that and asking for contributions, you should expect questions or comments and be able to handle them. Silly me for having un-great expectations. I would have told them if they were listening that the spot was not "a scream" as they had described it, it was tacky. I would have further noted that I am someone who has written frequently over the past months about Pelosi's failure of leadership, but that her failure wasn't for lack of spine. It was for lousy tactics. And because there are so many moral and intellectual incompetents in the House of Representatives; on both sides of the aisle.

This aside: Isn't it curious how in a nation of 300 million people we have managed to send 535 of such limited intellect and management ability to represent us in our national legislature. It reminds me of CNN starting out with back-benchers from the major networks, and how they never raised their standards. We keep sending back these Congressional incompetents every two and six years – 95% of those who stand for re-election are returned – despite the fact that they have involved us in a tragic war 6,000 miles away and virtually destroyed our economy. Why, for goodness sakes, aren't we sending bright, visionary, talented managers to run our government? The answer, sadly, is because those who are voted in time and again are apparently representative of their constituents.

That doesn't make it all Nancy Pelosi's fault, though she should have stopped listening to her advisors the second day she was made Speaker and started thinking outside the Beltway box. She should have gone for impeachment that afternoon, and shut down the funding of the war. She should have launched inquiries into the practice of torture conducted by the CIA with the approval of the Justice Department.

That doesn't mean it makes sense to run some well-meaning nondescript against her. They should target the true perpetrators of our national insanity, of whom some 250 are members of Congress. It's ridiculous to waste time and attention promoting a campaign against Pelosi when there are so many real villains who should pay for their sins with expulsion from the House.

And that's SetonnoteS...for May 7^th.

If you know others who you think might be interested in what's reported here, please forward this to them, or they can find it on-line.

If you have comments, please send to me an email.

Respectfully,

Tony Seton

* * * * * * *

Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Tuesday, May 6^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from Thomas Jefferson who said, "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them."

Some observations on the news...

As noted yesterday, the death toll estimate for the cyclone that hit Myanmar rose from 351 on Sunday to maybe 10,000. Then yesterday the report was that the number killed in one town could be 10,000. Today authorities are reporting 22,000 dead and maybe twice that number missing.

Twenty-four Republican Senators have signed a letter to the EPA asking that the agency back off providing subsidies to ethanol producers. The motive is to shift more of the nation's corn crop to food purposes. The ethanol industry opposes the change saying that the conversion to fuel had drawn only enough crop to cause a 4% increase in the price of corn over the last year. A group of international scientists last week, however, gave a figure of 20%, a number the Department of Agriculture agrees with. But the Congress, mindful of the Midwest voting bloc, is refusing to rescind the program in put in place last year to produce ethanol. That plan went into effect before it was realized how much energy it took to create it as a viable fuel source, and how much pollution was created in the process and when it was used as fuel. And more to the point, how much food prices would go up as a result to pulling the corn for fuel out of the corn for food supply. There are other destructive economic results that should push others to support an end to the ethanol subsidies immediately. One is that corn is used as feed for animals which is driving egg and chicken prices up, too. Then there is the fact that with less corn, producers have choices are turning to wheat and soybeans, for example, which drives up those prices as well. The letter from the Republicans included the signature of John McCain, but no Democrats. There are people dying in food riots on three continents. Reducing the price of corn 20% would be significant, life-saving and noble. It is remarkably short-sighted of the farmers not to see that they will lose very little if any money selling their corn for food, and even if it didn't, the lives they would save should more than pay them back. Well, um, yes, but no...not so far. Most culpable are the Democratic candidates and those running Congress. It’s tragic the control that the agriculture industry exercises over our would-be leaders, of both parties. Another 25 Republican Senators didn't sign the letter, including Charles Grassley who has stirred up numerous fires over obvious and unnecessary fiscal waste; Grassley is from Iowa.

Joe Baca is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (This aside: wouldn't it be grand if there were no caucuses formed on the basis of race?) The Southern California Democrat wrote to the chairman of Time-Warner, parent of CNN, complaining of what he called bias reporting on the immigration issue. He got a reply from the head of CNN worldwide, explaining that the news content was not a corporate issue and the caucus could meet with him instead, if they felt a need to. Baca was probably apoplectic with the response. He reportedly sent another letter to the Time-Warner chairman complaining about the snub and asking that something be done about CNN in general on the issue of slanted reporting, and the immigration-notorious Lou Dobbs in particular. Baca is right to complain about slanted reporting, but wrong to ask the corporate owners to interfere in content. If Baca wants to have effect, he should go to the advertisers and complain. If the advertisers feel that Dobbs is delivering more sales and Baca can lose them, they'll go with Dobbs. Of course the best way to get Dobbs to shut up about the issue is for Baca to lead his Congressional colleagues in a direction that will produce a solution to resolve the immigration issue.

Our government at work. The California State Assembly has passed a measure that would levy a $35 fine for drivers caught with a pet in their lap. The vote was 44 to 11. Meanwhile, The Golden State faces a $20 billion budget deficit and today it was forecast that California would run out of cash in August.

A new Bay State study is out on the effects of banning smoking in restaurants and if it inhibits teens from taking up the filthy habit. And wouldn't you know, in those towns where smoking is banned, teenagers were 40% less likely to become regular smokers than people their age in towns where smoking was allowed? Are we going to be the last of the so-called first world countries to ban smoking in public nationwide?

Tom Hanks has endorsed Obama. Most entertainer endorsement don’t mean a lot, and this one may not in terms of votes it delivers, but Hanks happens to be one of the most thoughtful, talented people in the film industry. He said, "I want Barack Obama to be president of this country, a country that once said people with his skin color were only three-fifths of a human being....It's because of his character and vision, and the high road he has taken during this campaign. He has the integrity and the inspiration to unify us, as did FDR and Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and even Ronald Reagan when they ran for the job."

He was traveling by rail in Great Britain. He had with him a violin which is in the luggage rack above the seat. The violin belonged to his mother, a professional violinist, who died two years ago. When he got off the train, he forgot to take the violin with him. This forgetfulness was rather extraordinary since the extraordinary instrument was made by Matteo Goffriller, a master craftsman, in 1698. A reward of $20,000 was offered, but the violin, which was valued at nearly $400,000, is still missing. Hopefully he will get it back, but it begs the question, if you were traveling with something worth close to a half-million dollars, wouldn't you keep it in your lap with your hands on it the whole time and not forget to take it with you? Yeah, well, maybe not and in fact the fellow wasn't alone. A week after the British train incident, a 34-year-old Grammy-nominated violinist left a $4 million violin in a cab he took from Newark Airport. The irreplaceable 1723 Antonio Stradivari "Ex-Kiesewetter" violin had been in the man's care, loaned to him by two philanthropists. As it turned out, the cabbie turned in the fiddle and as a reward is getting tickets to a forthcoming New York City performance. Also, the violinist was to give a private 30-minute performance today at Newark Airport for cab drivers.

 

SetonnoteS

A lead article on The New York Times website over the weekend headlined "Optimism Begins to Ease Onto Wall St." and the tease read "Despite a drumbeat of bad economic news, the stock market is up, and for the first time in months, Wall Street analysts and executives sound upbeat." It was echoed somewhat cautiously by Paul Krugman yesterday.

That's kinda scary. Oil hit $123 today. And considering the financial ills besetting the vast majority of Americans. Do these experts think that we've reached bottom in terms of foreclosures and layoffs and soaring prices for food and fuel? Even though the majority of homeowners don't face foreclosure, most have lost value in their major possession. Millions of us have had to dip into our savings just to tread water. Millions more have borrowed on their credit cards. Few Americans have not had to cut back on their discretionary purchases.

The ripple effect is epidemic, spreading and deepening. People are going to restaurants less frequently, tipping lower amounts, taking fewer trips, buying less, and buying later. So with this going on up and down Main Street America, what does Wall Street see as hopeful? Perhaps the fact that the federal government seems loathe to act to make the kind of regulatory changes that would prevent the chicanery by dishonest mortgage sellers, SIV bundlers, and credit card companies.

Consider that some of the wealthiest people in the country, hedge fund managers who are making hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars a year, are taxed at a rate that is half of what the middle class pays. This is because the Senate refused to close a loophole that allows them to claim their income as capital gains rather than fees. The fact that so few people benefit from this protection is indicative of how deeply they have their hands in the campaign pockets of people like Senator Charles Schumer of New York.

Does Wall Street think they have a lock on the government? That the special interests who bought the Congress during the Reagan years will be able to maintain control? That despite how awful conditions get for 90% of the American people that the public will remain docile over the corruption that has forced such a decline in their standard of living?

Actually, that could be an optimistic view of their position. Less attractive is the notion that Wall Street may be betting on a failed U.S. economy, putting their money in vehicles that will exploit the pain of the middle class. As ugly as that might seem, it’s certainly not implausible. There are clearly no ethics in the investment community, many of them have never seen a real market collapse, and they really don't have anywhere else to go.

For the global economy is in as serious trouble as our own, in large measure because of our situation. If we go under, it's hard to see how other nations won't be dragged down with us. China holds more than two trillion in American IOUs while Japan and Korea have another trillion-plus. As the value of our dollar declines, their holdings are worth less.

It's all really just a gamble, albeit very high stakes; the truth is that Wall Street is little more than a casino. When reality does bite, when the public demands that their government act in their behalf, the call will come with a vengeance and they will not be in the mood to take prisoners.

And that's SetonnoteS...for May 6^th.

If you know others who you think might be interested in what's reported here, please forward this to them, or they can find it on-line.

If you have comments, please send to me an email.

Respectfully,

Tony Seton

* * * * * * *

Here is an abbreviated version of America Back on Track... for Monday, May 5^th.

Our Quote of the Day is from god-knows-who who said, "God doesn't always pick up her messages on time, but she does return her calls."

Just some observations on the news...

On Sunday the official number killed in the cyclone that hit Myanmar was 351. Today it is around 4,000 with thousands more missing and expectations that the death toll could reach 10,000. This note: BBC still refers to the country as Burma.

Chevron reported a first quarter profit of $5.17 billion. That was up 10% over last year and the best first quarter in their history. It’s hard for most people to realize just how much money that is, but consider that it could alleviate the hunger of the 36 million malnourished children in the United States for three months.

Was anyone else surprised to read that Microsoft backed off their bid to buy Yahoo? They said Yahoo wanted too high a price to go willingly. Considering the depth of Microsoft’s pockets, it probably wasn’t money that deterred them from ponying up the extra cash. They might even have been successful holding their price and going for a hostile takeover. That’s what many people presumed would be the next course of action if as happened Yahoo resisted. So Microsoft must have discovered something that put them off the deal. One wonders what it might have been and how it might affect other potential suitors.

An Agence France Presse headline read "Wall Street cautiously embraces fragile recovery" with the lead saying, "With shaky conviction, Wall Street investors are starting to come out from their shell in anticipation of global credit squeeze easing and a skirting of a major US economic downturn." Hope springs eternal, but one wonders if their rose-colored glasses have been painted over. There was a perhaps pertinent line some four decades or so ago on a program called "That Was the Week that Was." It was sorta like "Saturday Night Live" news, but smarter. In one story they said that the warring natives in the Belgian Congo engaged a religious spirit who would turn the army's bullets to water. It appeared to work. When they attacked a machine gun post, none of the natives was shot. However, 300 of them drowned.

Lurita Doan was booted Friday as head of the General Services Administration, the government's chief purchasing agent. Doan, a political hack, had garnered headlines when she lied about her political activities at the GSA that were likely in violation of the Hatch Act. She had abetted Karl Rove who had given a pep talk to her top aides about how they might help Republican candidates in the 2006 elections, and that was probably just the tip of the iceberg. It wasn't surprising that she kept her position despite her sins, the main one of which was opening her mouth when she should have kept it shut, revealing not only her lack of sense, but worse, her lack of political sense. What was curious was that Doan was suddenly dumped only months before the end of this administration. As a New York Times editorial noted, "She exits as a minor but revealing character in a far more sweeping tale of the partisan undermining of public service."

Though John McCain was born to American parents on an American military base it happens that the 1936 event occurred in the Panama Canal Zone. That last fact has raised the question of whether he is a "natural born citizen" as the Constitution requires of a person to be President of the United States. If the matter is tested, it would likely be up to the Black-Robed Nine to decide. Considering how they determined the Florida 2000 elections issue and the fact that two far more conservative members have been added to the top bench, it probably wouldn't be a problem. The other option would be to amend the Constitution, a process that wouldn't be completed by January 20th of next year. The Senate, in camaraderial zeal, declared unanimously last week that McCain was a natural-born citizen, but in legal terms, as with much of the Senate's activity, the resolution wasn't worth a spit in the ocean.

It is said the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Iraq is hell. So it makes sense that sometimes when we are trying to stop militants, our missiles might land near a hospital wounding 20, including children, and destroying a bunch of ambulances. As happened Saturday.

Tom Friedman fired a warning shot across our national bow. "We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people. Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I'm voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room. Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country."

The New York Times site headline on Saturday afternoon read "Big Brown Wins Derby; Filly Is Euthanized." It was about the horse race of course, but I wondered if it might not be a portent for the Democratic convention.

A poignant account of the place horse and breeding for speed by Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post. "There is no turning away from this fact: Eight Belles killed herself finishing second. She ran with the heart of a locomotive, on champagne-glass ankles for the pleasure of the crowd, the sheiks, oilmen, entrepreneurs, old money from the thousand-acre farms, the handicappers, men in bad sport coats with crumpled sheets full of betting hieroglyphics, the julep-swillers and the ladies in hats the size of boats, and the rest of the people who make up thoroughbred racing. There was no mistaking this fact, too, as she made her stretch run, and the apologists will use it to defend the sport in the coming days: She ran to please herself. "

Gail Collins delivered another marvelous mix of graciously acerbic humor and pointed political commentary. On the subject of the suspending the federal gasoline tax this summer she noted, "Economists instantly pointed out that dropping the tax would cost the government around $9 billion, possibly add to the already obscene profits of the oil companies and do little or nothing to actually lower the price of fuel. Not to mention that it points us in the exact wrong direction on global warming and energy independence." And as she put the idea in context, "In terms of rational policy-making, this is a little bit like announcing that you want to reduce tensions in the Middle East by drilling an enormous hole in Sweden."

Hillary Clinton insists that her plan – actually, GOP rival McCain’s plan originally – to eliminate the federal sales tax on gasoline for the summer is a good idea. Though panned by both liberal and conservative editorial pages across the country as cheap pandering, the former first lady insists that she will not demur to the "elite opinion" of economists. When asked by "This Week" to name a single credible economist who backed her, Clinton responded, "I'm not going to put my lot in with economists." She added, "We've got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority." That’s rather stunning. What’s next, that evolution is elitist? An Associated Press analysis piece says the candidates were using the Sunday talk shows to make their cases to the super-delegates. Obama’s task was to get over the Wright debacle while Clinton’s was to show that she was more electable, especially appealing to white blue-collar males. That group has been voting Democratic in declining numbers since the Carter administration. It seems hardly likely that a woman would pick up their support over John McCain. It also seems improbable that the super-delegates would buy into her gas tax plan or think her current campaign style would earn her the nomination.

Some reporters writing their leads have taken to putting the words of The President of the United States in quotes, perhaps because those words aren't clear or credible, or both. On Friday, for instance, the full quote was "I know it's tough times, and I know you're having to pay more at the fuel pump than you want. But this economy is going to come on. I'm confident it will." Highlighted were the words "come on" since they don't make obvious sense in spoken English. Then on Saturday, in his weekly radio address, Bush declared that he and his people have been "clear and candid" about our country's economy. Neither is correct, and that fact that he even had to say it underscores the lack of merit in the claim.

More opening up of the Cuban economy. Home computers are on sale for the first time. Access to the Internet is limited because of the U.S. embargo doesn't allow Cuba to patch into undersea cable access so Cubans can only get in through expensive and slower satellite connections. However, Venezuela's Chavez is laying a new undersea cable to the island nation. Isn't it time we ended our embargo and allowed American companies to profit from the new commerce with Cuba?

Yet another professional football player has been arrested. A running back for the Chicago Bears operating a 30-foot boat failed a sobriety test. Then he resisted arrest for intoxication and had to be pepper sprayed before being dragged ashore by police. No, we didn’t notice any rap artist arrests over the weekend.

There’s continuing fallout from the financial scandals that have engulfed the Oral Roberts University. Students are transferring out and fewer students are enrolling. They are concerned about the value of an ORU diploma. With the school struggling to cope with $50 million in debt, there are some questions about whether it will survive...without divine intervention.

 

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Respectfully,

Tony Seton

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[For previous ABoT, please click here.]