McCain vows to name more 'Alitos' and 'Robertses'

WASHINGTON — John McCain sought to burnish his conservative credentials Tuesday with a broadside against "the common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power" and a promise of "better judges" in the mold of Supreme Court Justices John G. Roberts and Samuel Alito.

Do you want more Alitos on the court? I sure don't.

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/05/mcsame_old_thin_1.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/05/mcsame_old_thin_1.html Politics Wed, 07 May 2008 09:04:26 -0700 I keep out of the primary fights for the most part. At this point I could not be more of a Yellow Dog Democrat — I'll vote for anyone to get the Republicans out of power, to keep them from further trashing this country.

But I have to say one thing about this gas tax kerfluffle. Both Clinton and McCain are currently Senators, and for all that they are going on about a summer gas tax holiday, neither of them has actually introduced any legislation to that effect. And as long as they don't introduce legislation, actual words on paper entered into the record that we can look at and analyze, then it's all hot air and pandering.

Now I don't think such a bill has any chance of being passed, but if these two are serious then they ought to have some legislation in process, at least to try and pass it. The fact that neither one has bothered gives the lie to all their talk.

UPDATE: Here it is. John Cole found it. No text available yet, but at least she's put it up.

UPDATE: And here is MCCain's version. Both are currently in the Senate Finance committee.

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/05/show_me_the_leg.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/05/show_me_the_leg.html Politics Tue, 06 May 2008 08:54:24 -0700 It's not just in the U.S., and it's worse than you think. Read this Washington Post article on the superrich of the world. They're not like you and me.

Today, the world's more than 1,100 billionaires have a net worth that's roughly double that of the bottom 2.5 billion people on the planet. The richest 10 percent of adults worldwide own 85 percent of global wealth, while the poorest half only barely one percent. The world's almost 10 million millionaires have seen their wealth double to nearly $37 trillion over the past 10 years.

Yes, that's quite a package.

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/05/codpiece_day.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/05/codpiece_day.html Iraq Thu, 01 May 2008 13:54:00 -0700 This video says it all.

It really is remarkable how close these two candidates are. I'm going to lay out the percentages to each candidate below, along with the "other" percentage. There's something interesting here.

I didn't muck around with leaving out caucuses or any of that silly stuff the Clinton campaign is doing. Obama leads in the "legal" count, which excludes FL and MI. Obama leads with FL in, where at least his name was on the ballot. Only when you add in MI as well, where Clinton was the only name on the ballot, does she eke out a slight lead.

In all cases the "Other" vote is larger than the difference between the candidates' vote totals. And as you add in the two "extra-legal" states, the "Other" vote gets larger and larger, especially when it comes to adding in MI, of course, which went nearly 45% "Undecided".

If you compare the "Other" vote, which includes undecideds, to the difference in vote totals between the two candidates, you find that in the first, legal case, there are still almost twice as many "Other" votes as the difference in vote totals between the two candidates. Adding in FL, it becomes almost six times as many "Other" votes, as the difference between the vote totals. And by adding in MI, you finally get the "Other" count to nearly 15 times the difference between the two candidates' vote totals.

I personally think the only vote total that matters is the legal vote total under the party rules that all candidates agreed to. I know this sucks, especially for Florida, but there it is. Once you start adding in the two states that voted outside the rules, the level of uncertainty rises to a point where Hillary's claims of being ahead in the popular vote just doesn't hold water.

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/numbers_numbers.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/numbers_numbers.html Voting Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:54:07 -0700 Some disturbing stories:

Costco CEO: demand rises for rice, flour

Costco Wholesale Corp, the No. 1 warehouse club operator, has seen increased demand for items like rice and flour as customers, worried about global food shortages, stock up, its chief executive said in an interview on Tuesday.

James Sinegal, the CEO, told Reuters the retailer had seen a spike in demand in the past week and a half, and some stores, including locations in California's Bay Area, had limited quantities. "There's been an increase in purchasing, but we think it's manageable. At the moment, we think we have it relatively under control," he said....

"Relatively" under control. That's good to know. How about this?

Wal-Mart's Sam's Club limits rice purchases

Sam's Club warehouse division said on Wednesday it is limiting sales of several types of rice, the latest sign that fears of a rice shortage are rippling around the world.

Sam's Club, the No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator, said it is limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice "due to recent supply and demand trends."...

Hmmm.... But wait, there's more...

Bakers feeling pinch of short supplies

Already feeling the pinch from soaring wheat and flour prices, U.S. bakers are now beginning to experience some supply shortages.

Rye flour stocks have been depleted in the United States, and by June or July there will be no more U.S. rye flour to purchase...

That's in the U.S., where we aren't used to shortages of this kind but where most of us can manage, even with short stocks and rising prices. In other, less wealthy places around the globe, there are food riots happening now, some of them bloody.

The soaring cost of food

..."A wave of food-price inflation is moving through the world, leaving riots and shaken governments in its wake," says the Economist.

Demonstrations over the prices of rice are occurring all over Asia and food riots in Haiti claimed the lives of six people earlier this week....

Some of it driven by drought...

A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice

...The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

Ten thousand miles separate the mill’s hushed rows of oversized silos and sheds — beige, gray and now empty — from the riotous streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but a widening global crisis unites them.

The collapse of Australia’s rice production is one of several factors contributing to a doubling of rice prices in the last three months — increases that have led the world’s largest exporters to restrict exports severely, spurred panicked hoarding in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and set off violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Yemen....

Nervous yet? I am.

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/food_shortages.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/food_shortages.html Farms and Food Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:39:30 -0700 Tell your story. Did you have a problem voting? VoterStory is collecting the experiences of any and all voters. VoterStory works to protect voter rights, and you can use the form below to submit your story.

Also, you can call to find your polling place!

MCCAIN: I’m glad to have his endorsement. I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything. But thanks for asking.

Deep thoughts from John McCain. He also said that he appreciately Hagee's strong support for the state of Israel. Georgie didn't ask him about Hagee's millenialist fantasies, and how McCain could "appreciate" someone who wants Israel to exist so that it can be destroyed in the end times.

Such a tough questioner, our Georgie.

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/hes_not_antiany.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/hes_not_antiany.html Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:47:13 -0700 One Philadelphia paper dared to ask. Here's what they found.



]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/what_interests.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/what_interests.html Voting Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:48:19 -0700 Damn, it was good to see John again. The longer this primary season goes on, the more I miss him.

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

Emphasis added.

UPDATE: Greenwald analyzes the press responses and concludes:

Let the David Brooks, Roger Simons and Marc Ambinders band together and self-righteously defend this trash. As always, it's vital to remember that they don't actually speak for anyone other than the discredited journalist class of which they're members.

"Torture, and conspiracy to commit torture are crimes under U.S. law, wherever they occur in the world."

]]> http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/condoleeza_rice.html http://fierce.jnfr.com/archives/2008/04/condoleeza_rice.html Corruption Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:25:45 -0700