Tuesday’s Mini-Report

April 22, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* We may not need to stay up too late tonight: “Polls close at 8 p.m. State elections officials tell us that results from the bigger cities will start trickling in within the hour, but fuller results may not be known until at least 9:30 or 10 p.m. The smaller counties, where there aren’t too many Democrats anyway, tend to report last.”

* Strong turnout in Pennsylvania.

* This won’t help him look like he’s in touch: “President Bush denied Tuesday that the United States’ economy is in recession, calling it instead a ‘slowdown.'”

* A related note, from the latest USAT/Gallup poll: “Meanwhile, President Bush set an unwelcome record, scoring the highest disapproval rating — 69% — in the history of the Gallup Poll, which dates to Franklin Roosevelt’s tenure. Bush’s approval rating is 28%, matching the low point of his presidency.”

* Dan Froomkin had a good item on this: “No president in recent history has let the American people down the way this president has…. Pundits focused so intently on the race to replace him risk losing sight of just how unhappy the American people are with Bush, how dismally they regard his tenure, and how eager they are to set off in a new direction.”

* AP: “Al Qaeda still has plans to target Western countries involved in the Iraq war, Osama bin Laden’s chief deputy warns in an audiotape released Tuesday to answer questions posed by followers. The voice in the lengthy file posted on an Islamic Web site could not be immediately confirmed as al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri’s. But it sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting bore the logo of As-Sahab, al Qaeda’s official media arm.”

* Remember, the stop-loss policy means involuntary service: “The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show…. [Since May 2007,] the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43% to 12,235 in March.”

* Earth Day News: “On the eve of Earth Day, an environmental group released a study that suggests implementing a cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions would not slow the U.S. economy or cost jobs, contradicting a report released recently by a group of manufacturers that oppose a climate change bill.”

* Dick Cheney really ought to know the difference between FISA and the PAA.

* On a related note, FISA talks have begun anew.

* AP: “Sales of existing homes fell in March as a severe slump in housing showed no signs of abating.”

* Keep an eye on this one: “Yesterday marked the opening day of a class action lawsuit brought by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), arguing “that failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides” among veterans. The VA denies the charges, pointing to increased resources devoted to mental health. Today, CBS News reports that the VA apparently concealed veteran suicide statistics, and fed the news organization faulty data for a story on the issue.”

* Rupert Murdoch wants Newsday, too.

* It probably wasn’t a good idea for Bill Clinton to pick a fight over three-month-old comments.

* Obama appears to have rebounded in the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll, which has been volatile to the point of unreliability. After trailing Clinton by one on Saturday, Obama leads her by 10 today.

* Oh dear, Bush is dancing again.

* It takes a special kind of conservative to insist that “illiterate peasant” is not an insult.

* Uh oh: “Researchers have found the unexpected in U.S. life expectancy: We might have peaked. Life expectancy rates rose for most of Americans over the last four decades by about six years, from an average of about age 71 to age 77. Yet a sizeable portion of the population, mostly in rural regions, saw those modest gains level off and even reverse starting in the 1980s. This is in contrast to all other industrialized nations. Nearly 20 percent of American women, in fact, experienced either stagnation or a decline in longevity, what researchers at Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington call a ‘reversal of fortunes.'” (thanks to R.K. and E.S. for the tip)

* And finally, a U.S. veteran of the war in Iraq was competing on an NBC game show called “Deal or No Deal” last night, so the president made a cameo (via video tape) to wish him luck. “I’m thrilled to be on Deal or No Deal’ with you tonight,” Bush said. “Come to think of it, I’m thrilled to be anywhere with high ratings these days.”

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

“I’m thrilled to be on Deal or No Deal’ with you tonight,” Bush said. “Come to think of it, I’m thrilled to be anywhere with high ratings these days.”

Bush’s version of the New Deal…No Deal.

Obama be good tonight!!!

  • “the stop-loss policy means involuntary service” This is going to hurt the services for years and years to com. The government renig’s on a contract because gw bush considers this an honorable conflict but will not institute a draft. We would not want to have to endanger any Texas frat boys who cannot keep a 3.0 average. I hope the rat bastard dies of a rash for doing what he is doing to these soldiers who have satisfied their committments but still cannot come home.

  • Haik Bedrosian – it was an inside job!

    Asking dur chimpfurher to “investigate” 9/11 is insanity – asking the government that was behind enabling 9/11 (if not actually creating it) to investigate it is ridiculous on its face.

    Yeah right – the criminal cabal that stole 2 federal elections is going to “investigate” and get to the bottom of 9/11. Unless, of course, you mean another whitewash…

    Hitler did “investigate” the Reichstag, right?

    The majority of Americans no longer believe that crazy “conspiracy theory” that a man needing dialysis in a cave somehow masterminded an attack against the most sophisticated air control and defense system in the world. The facts are out there if you look.

    Chimpy’s unpopularity has little or nothing to do with whether or not he cooperated with or launches a new investigation into 9/11.

  • Gee, chris, could it be because an unelected AWOL alcoholic/cocaine-addict was fraudulently hoisted onto the American public via stolen elections? Maybe Americans are getting used to the fact that they don’t actually “elect” presidents anymore.

    Oh – and I am assuming you are referring to shillary as someone the US would not rationally choose to elect. After all, who in their right mind wants to see America ruled by figurehead monarchs like bush-clinton-bush-clinton?

    To even imagine it is just so ridiculous – like America was created to be subservient to royal, elite families.

  • To a demographer mortality rates represent the single best overall measure of the “health” of a society. For the last 300 years mortality rates have been declining in developing/industrial nations. Notable exceptions were the 1919 flu epidemic, the 1930s in the Soviet Union. These United States reversals, mapped by county here, show the strong regional (South) and gender (women) impact. I would have thought such reversals impossible here, and they would be if we had even a modicum of national health care.

  • locanicole – image a typical “dump” floating in a toilet bowl, the solid feces represents approximately 28% of the contents of said toilet before it is flushed clean.

    Another way to look at it is this:

    *approximately 3 percent of the population has made out like bandits, profiting far beyond avarice under dur chimpfurher, looting of the federal treasury. Supporting chimpy is a rational choice based on self-interest.

    *another 10 percent thinks they are part of the “wealthy elite”, but in fact will never be accepted into that high-status group or reap the economic benefits. They keep thinking that they are “next” in line for the gravy train. While not rational, this group supports the chimperor based on perceived self-interest — self-delusions that they are part super-rich and powerful crowd.

    *another 20 percent of the population suffers from mental illness at any given point in time. Note that the percentage of population that suffers from mental illness can (and often does) overlap the other 2 groups. That is why the net sum of these three groups is approximately 28 percent.

    It is highly unlikely that chimpy could go much below 28% even if he gang-raped the pope on the pitcher’s mound with the help of homosexual prostitute/fake “newsman” jeff gannon/guckert and kkkarl rove at on national TV before a world-series game.

    If this were to happen, the MSM would dutifully “catapult the propaganda” that this type of perverse sexual behavior represents a glorious tradition that our nation has enjoyed for generations and that forcing homosexual relations on the pontiff represents the very heart and soul of America and our national pastime — baseball.

    Which in some strange way, might actually be the case.

  • I am so hoping that before January we can crack that 28% Bush approval barrier. But it’s great to have set a record for the disapproval rating.

    On the life expectancy mini-post. We now rank 41st in the world. I don’t think the American people realize just how poorly the United States ranks in so many categories. And this the wealthiest nation on earth. That wealth continues to rise to the top, and it’s about time the Democrats started talking about it. Sure it’s class warfare – the bottom 90% fighting back for the first time since FDR. Do we really believe that a CEO is worth 5000 times more than a minimum wage earner? And that doesn’t count the CEO’s untaxed or deferred tax earnings. Please. That’s obscene.

  • hark #13. What do I mean by “untaxed” earnings? Unrealized capital gains. They aren’t taxed until you sell something. The richer you are, the more of them you have. Income comparisons NEVER include these. There’s no way to account for them. The rich are much richer than you think, because these figures are never included in their reported income.

    If the Republicans get their way, taxes on realized capital gains, along with the estate tax, will be entirely eliminated.

  • * Strong turnout in Pennsylvania.

    Someone on TPN Election Central (a commenter) was saying (about mid-day) that there were problems galore, reported by PA press and TV. Precincts with just 2 voting machines — both broken — making people wait 2 hrs in line and resulting in voters leaving without having voted. Provisional ballots, on which Only Hillary’s name appears (but, if you write in your own choice, that makes the ballot void).

    Has anyone heard anything more about the situation there? Because as described, it reminds me of of an old lead-in on the evening news program in Warsaw one winter: “it has become an annual tradition that the city’s public transport system is overwhelmed by every snowfall, which always seems to be totally unexpected”

  • Re my question @16: (sami pytamy, sami odpowiadamy, or: we ask [the questions] ourselves, we answer ourselves). Apparently, those were sample ballots, not real ones. Some had only Hillary’s name on them and some only Obama’s. Though none said they were sample ballots and one does wonder how many people are going to vote following the set-up they’d seen on paper before entering the voting booth…

  • Reading the article about the PA election makes me so happy my state votes by mail (or you can drop your ballot off at one of many conveniently located official locations). Every state should try it. I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

  • Earth Day News: “On the eve of Earth Day, an environmental group released a study that suggests implementing a cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions would not slow the U.S. economy or cost jobs, contradicting a report released recently by a group of manufacturers that oppose a climate change bill.”

    In response to a lawsuit, the EPA released its analysis of economic growth with and without the Safe Climate Act in effect. Between now and 2020, the difference would be one half of one percent less under the SCA.

    The Europeans have done all this over the past 10 years and I don’t think it takes a genius to know whose economy is working better these days.

    Businessmen (Republicans) caught lying again – who’d a thunk it!!!

    Further proof we need to close the B-schools and abolish the MBA degree.

  • “Further proof we need to close the B-schools and abolish the MBA degree.”

    Cause we all know how the MBA teaches you to be unethical, says the MBA degree seeker, we all know how in and amongst the classes on quantitative business modeling, organizational theory, design, contract procurement, etc., they slip in a class that causes you to remove your ethics.

    Publicly owned corporations exist simply to earn profit, and anything else is punished; therefore it is the the operators of the company’s best interest to pursue all legal (if not ethical) means. Of course, I do have professors noting that ethics discussions HAVE taken a far greater role, so perhaps those businessmen who came of age during the 50’s and 60’s do lack proper training in ethics. But I digress

    If you are a privately held corporation you have far greater flexibility in your options – you can choose to follow a slower growth rate, a slower return rate for a longer-term view.

    Why are large corporations unethical? Because the shareholders reward them for it. Survey in my org. design class had a summary statement of “All things being equal, consumers prefer to shop the ethical organization.” The unstated implication that if you can be unethical and provide cheaper/better goods then the consumer will say “Screw you, ethical company, I’m going to shop at your cheaper competitor!” We get unethical companies because the public requests it.

    They lie because the public as a whole rewards them for it. I find Wal*Mart’s politics and philosophy despicable. However, do you really think they care if I shop with them or not? It is the paradox of voting all over again.

  • Where is your news coverage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act? Today is Administrative Professionals Day (aka National Secretaries’ Day) and I find not one blog (so far) that even bothers to address pay inequities between men and women, or to mention this bill that has languished in Congress in one form or another since 2005 (after Lilly Ledbetter filed an equal pay lawsuit that SCOTUS overturned).

    Progressives wonder why so many women are angry at them and at the progressive media. This is a perfect example. Your interests in racial equality trump gender equality nearly every time – just like right-wing, MSM media.

    Few if any progressive media outlets have done anything to try to heal rifts between progressive feminist women (and men) who don’t support Barack Obama and the larger progressive movement. Instead, we get the same treatment that we get from MSM and right-wing.

    You call us traitors because there is a group of Clinton supporters who say they will vote for McCain. Do you blame them? When they feel like they have nowhere else to go and that they are being derided and dismissed, why shouldn’t they?

    As far as I can see and tell, progressives (or so-called) are no more egalitarian than any other group run by and for (white) men, when it comes to “women’s issues” – especially wage parity issues.

    If you lose us now or in November, it will be because of the continued denial, dismissal, and denigration of women’s equality concerns.

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