Listening to Gov. Sarah Palin today announce her resignation, I couldn’t help but be impressed with her selflessness in saving Alaska from the trauma of her continuing in office. Now that she has decided not to run for reelection, she has also decided to hand over the keys to the governor’s office to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, because, as she described it, she is not the usual sort of politician. She believes she can fight for Alaskans with more success from the outside than the inside as a lame-duck governor, flopping around in her office in Juneau with no power, subject to the terrible mean-spirited partisanship that characterizes modern political discourse.

Sabbath eve. July 3, 2009

I’ve had several topics in mind—even went so far as to jot down a line or two in my notebook. Had I written this ahead of time it would have been about something else, but now I sit down with an open mind; another Sabbath eve approaches, and none of the shit I wanted to say seems to matter.

The heat was once again rough this week—the weatherman's numbers were slightly lower, but I can attest to what it felt like out in the sun—goddamned hot. Apparently so hot that a couple of elderly women in San Antonio died from heat stroke.

After reading Krugman today I'm ready to go hide under a rock. I figured it was bad, but sheesh. There's bad and then there is bad.

This is great news, if true. Yes, the guts of the story have already been posted here at The Agonist, but Harper goes into a bit more detail, worth reading, if you ask me. I do wonder what Ross did to get fired.

My first week home was, while not exciting, pleasant. Hanging out with my Mom, seeing my sister, old friends, catching up, all a part of the return. After staying at my Mom's the first week I headed out to Williamson County to stay with a buddy until my flat is ready. He's got a wonderful house, spacious, with two dogs that are sweet--if one is a bit to exuberant in the mornings, you know, I just don't like being licked (cue the peanut gallery)--but it's out in sub-urban hell. The last several days after waking up and eating breakfast I drive into town to spend my day writing in a local coffee shop. I greet each morning with a smile, the promise of a new day. But the moment I pull the car out of the subdivision onto Anderson Mill Road, my mood sinks. I look around me. I see blue skies, a warm sun and concrete big boxes in all directions. Home.

"Where is the wonder," I ask myself? I know it's silly. Austin isn't Istanbul. It's not Muscat. It's not even Singapore. And so I drive thirty minutes into town, sit down at a table and fire up my Mac Book Pro. The blank white page and the blinking cursor reflect back on me the emptiness I feel.

More after the jump.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

They're still not big fans of the U.S., but Barack Obama is a big improvement over W. from the poll:

Most Pakistanis now see the Pakistani Taliban as well as al Qaeda as a critical threat to the country–a major shift from 18 months ago–and support the government and army in their fight in the Swat Valley against the Pakistani Taliban. An overwhelming majority think that Taliban groups who seek to overthrow the Afghan government should not be allowed to have bases in Pakistan.

But given Sharif's numbers, this makes the tie of his to the Taliban important to make:

Asked about the nation’s leaders, a large majority–68 percent–views President Zardari unfavorably (very, 50%), but–unlike the recent past–there are multiple national leaders whom most do view favorably. Prime Minister Gilani is seems untarred by negative views of Zardari and gets favorable ratings from 80 percent of Pakistanis. The restored Chief Justice Chaudry is very popular (82%), and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is extremely popular (87%). The leader most associated with the Pakistani Taliban, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, is viewed positively by only 18 percent of Pakistanis.

As if there was really any question that our mainstream media wasn't composed entirely of whores--although a whore might be insulted by the comparison, let there be no remaining doubts:

The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

With the newsroom in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said this morning that he was "appalled" by the plan and said the newsroom will not participate.

"It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," Brauchli told The Post’s media reporter, Howard Kurtz. The proposal "promises we would suspend our usual skeptical questioning because it appears to offer, in exchange for sponsorships, the good name of The Washington Post."

I'm speechless.

Painful acceleration in job losses this month. Economist's expected losses of 365,000, instead they got 467,000.

Here's the killer quote, however:

Consumers are saving 6.9 percent of their disposable income, and spending remains sluggish.

Consumers are still retrenching. 6.9% for American consumers? That's a huge number. An implicit argument in the Times article comes from this quote:

“We have to wait to see where things go,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “If we didn’t have the stimulus, the economy would’ve contracted twice as fast in the second quarter and the job losses we’re suffering now would be very similar to the ones we were suffering at the beginning of the year.”

I read this to mean the bounce from the stimulus is, to a certain degree, over. Is it? I can't say. We'll have to wait an see what the July numbers are like.

Still, are you still retrenching? Are you saving more than you spend? How are your neighbors doing? Still unemployed? Or recently laid-off? I know far too many people here in Austin who are unemployed. Another indicator is the sheer amount of homeless people I see on the streets, begging at stop lights and the like. This isn't over.

Some heavy crazyness from the Glenn Beck show:

Michael Sheuer, former head of the Bin Laden unit at CIA under Clinton and Bush, appeared on Glenn Beck's show to criticize Obama's use of unarmed National Guard soldiers to police the Mexican border.

And he dropped this little gem, "the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."

The right really has utterly lost it. They're openly screeching and begging for a new Islamic terror attack so they can clamp down like they did after 9/11 except even more and better. And they feel it must be done to save us from those awful awful brown-skinned hordes.

Utterly surreal.

Cynics like me will tell you that it really doesn't matter that much who's in the White House, but I'd wager to say that the Honduran coupsters and their opposition would tell you different.

Apparently, U.S. officials are talking to with ex-Honduran President Zelaya even as they have led the way on the OAS declaring a 72 hour ultimatum to the coupsters:

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya met senior US officials on the sidelines of an Organization of American States meeting, on the eve of his departure Wednesday for Panama, US officials said.

The White House and the State Department said that the deposed leader met late Tuesday with Tom Shannon, US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and Dan Restrepo, the top Latin America advisor on the national security council.

"Shannon reiterated the US commitment to seeing a return to the constitutional order in Honduras," a US official said, of the meeting on the fringes of the OAS in Washington.

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs noted the 72-hour deadline imposed by the OAS for Zelaya's reinstatement following a coup on Sunday.

The U.S. Ambassador to Honduras
has announced our refusal to recognize any other government of Honduras: "we refuse to recognize any Government of Honduras other than the constitutionally legitimate government of President Zelaya."

As a consequence, Zalaya has agreed to post-pone his return to Honduras for 72 hours.

Rafael Alegria, Via Campesina International leader has spoken about the situation in the rural parts of the country:

LC: Are you experiencing repression?

RA: Yes, there are battalions placed in strategic zones across the country that don't allow protesters to travel, protesters against the coup. In the region of Quebracho, in the eastern part of the country, the military shot out the tires of eleven buses heading for Tegucigalpa.

They are recruiting young people, ages 12-30 for military service. We don't know what the purpose is, but they are inciting people saying there could be a war. They are also calling out reservists and persons retired from the armed forces... This is the situation we are seeing now.

There are some individuals from the military who want to talk to the popular movement but there is a decision on the part of the social movements that as long as constitutional order and democratic process is not reinstated, we cannot support or dialogue with people who form part of the coup in Honduras.

LC: There have been reports that some battalions have broken with the coup: Is this true? What is the position of the army?

RA: There are battalions that are refusing to repress the population and basically are against the coup, but they're not saying this publicly. We believe that it isn't the whole army that is against the people of Honduras, but the military command (Estado Mayor), in complicity with the groups holding de facto power who have carried out the coup. These are the sectors that oppose democratization and citizen participation in the country.

Andrew Sullivan has been running reports from Honduran supporters of the coup. Al Giordano claims these reports are coming from the oligarchy. More from Al in the full entry:

from my family to yours:





To view a video that a young couple living in London, Ontario made, click to watch: Canadian, Please

The Minnesota Supreme Court issued a judgment in favor of Al Franken this afternoon. Norm Coleman has conceded. The Democrats now have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Will they use it?

Disclosure: I'm proud to be working with the The Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM & Chrysler.

Today GM's final bankruptcy hearing will determine whether or not they accept liability for harm caused to consumers by defective GM cars built before the "re-launch of GM".

All indications point to no. In response to pressure from consumers, "New GM" has agreed to cover future liabilities from cars built before the bankruptcy ("Old GM"). But they are still walking away from pending liabilities for accidents that have already happened, leaving thousands of victims without recourse.

From the Car Gurus blog:

As part of GM's bankruptcy filing, it's possible it will no longer be liable for injuries or deaths caused by vehicles built by the "old GM." Our friends at Autoblog reported that GM may be reconsidering, but Chrysler set a precedent earlier this month when they emerged from bankruptcy free from such liabilities.

So if you're driving around in an `06 Cherokee or a `94 Lumina, and it suddenly bursts into flames, the folks at Chrysler can just let out a sigh of relief knowing the third-degree burns their vehicle gave you are not their responsibility. Awesome, huh?

News like this doesn't exactly instill the kind of trust GM and Chrysler so desperately need. Why are we supposed to believe that the "new" GM will be run any differently than the old, considering most of the top execs are still in place? At least Chrysler has the advantage of an all-new CEO and top management team.

Multiple state Attorneys General are opposing these provisions in the GM deal:

Attorneys general from Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Vermont filed an objection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York Friday.

Rep. Andre Carson is pushing a bill to force GM, Chrysler to cover future and current liability claims:

Four years after a traffic accident nearly killed him, Jeremy Warriner was just days away from his court date. Jeremy was set to argue that a faulty brake fluid container on his 2005 Jeep Wrangler broke and sparked a fire after the vehicle's impact--a fire that left Jeremy with severe burns and forced doctors to amputate both of his legs.

When Chrysler filed bankruptcy in April, Jeremy's mediation date was cancelled and his case has now been grouped with a number of other pending claims--likely never to see any payout due to the agreement struck in the bankruptcy court earlier this month. The court has absolved "New Chrysler," which emerged from bankruptcy, from any liability for future claims related to vehicles made before the creation of the new company.

To help Jeremy and thousands of future crash victims have their day in court, Congressman André Carson has filed the "Jeremy Warriner Consumer Protection Act," a bill that would require the newly-restructured GM and Chrysler to carry liability insurance and force the carmakers to cover claims made against them for any defective products produced by their predecessor company.

Regardless of what happens at the hearing today, the victims and consumer rights advocates won't be going away. There will be rallies this week protesting Chrysler in San Francisco, more on that as I have details.

It's raining here in Austin today. It's a rather typical rain--at least the kind of rain I've come to know in the last twenty years. Long, parched dry spells followed by brief torrential rains. It's the worst possible kind of rain for local farmers. Crops are parched. Fields are dry, unable to absorb the rain, which destroys the weakened crops and runs off into the rivers, swelling them, causing floods and more destruction further down the watershed.

In the past I would not have noticed this. But after a few years of of reading Don's missives and traveling the world for a year, experiencing agriculture first hand, I've witnessed the devastation we're causing around the globe. From the parched, dusty Deccan in India to the wrecked agricultural lands of Eastern Cambodia and the absolute ecological havoc in Russia it is now rather quite obvious; undeniable is a word that comes to mind.

Don's asks the question about redemption: I don't have an answer, mostly because I think redemption is a bullshit word humans made up to make them feel better about the really stupid mistakes they make and the inevitable bounce-back that occurs from their mistakes, I mean, everyone gets a dead cat bounce in life, right?

That's not to say that redemption is not real. I want to believe that no man is beyond redemption, but I can't say I know it's true quality and I won't pretend I do. I can't give up on the idea, but in my experience it happens far, far less than I was ever willing to believe.

The new approach to fighting the Taliban calls for building up local Afghan forces – militias and tribal levies. While this is a welcome departure from the neglect and reliance on massive firepower of past years, the approach will face many obstacles.

Local forces, from the Soviet occupation to the present, have not worked well with the Afghan national army. Preferring to remain in their districts, many Afghans choose service in local militaries, presenting personnel problems for the army. Militias are resented for draining military resources better allocated, in the army’s view, to them. Attempts over the years to amalgamate militias and army have met with failure.

I've been thinking about redemption of late. As in, is there any for this despicable race of creatures we belong to?

I choose to believe so. Of course there is. There has to be. And then I look at a fossil and wonder:

Reckon there's dinosaurs in heaven?

Tim Cocks & Muhanad Mohammed | Baghdad | June 29

Reuters - U.S. troops pulled out of Baghdad on Monday, triggering jubilation among Iraqis hopeful that foreign military occupation is ending six years after the invasion to depose Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi soldiers paraded through the streets in their American-made vehicles draped with Iraqi flags and flowers, chanting, dancing and calling the pullout a "victory".

One drove a motorcycle with party streamers on it; another, a Humvee with a garland of plastic roses on the grill.

U.S. combat troops must pull out of Iraq's urban centres by midnight on Tuesday under a bilateral security pact that also requires all troops to leave the country by 2012.

All had left the capital by Monday afternoon, Major-General in Staff, Abboud Qanbar, head of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, told Reuters.

The left-leaning President of Honduras was ousted in a military coup this weekend. From the NYT:

President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras was ousted by the army on Sunday, capping months of tensions over his efforts to lift presidential term limits.

In the first military coup in Central America since the end of the cold war, soldiers stormed the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, early in the morning, disarming the presidential guard, waking Mr. Zelaya and putting him on a plane to Costa Rica.

Mr. Zelaya, a leftist aligned with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, angrily denounced the coup as illegal. “I am the president of Honduras,” he insisted at the airport in San José, Costa Rica, still wearing his pajamas.

Later Sunday the Honduran Congress voted him out of office, replacing him with the president of Congress, Roberto Micheletti.

The military offered no public explanation for its actions, but the Supreme Court issued a statement saying that the military had acted to defend the law against “those who had publicly spoken out and acted against the Constitution’s provisions.”

The coup has been denounced by: Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez (linkage courtesy of the Washington Times, nice one), UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Cuba, and the head of the Organization of American States.

Some analysis from Reuters:

The most serious immediate risk is that Chavez, who has championed a new wave of socialism across Latin America, takes military action. However, he has a history of making military threats and not following up on them.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist rebel who has aligned his country with Venezuela, called the coup "an act of terrorism" but has not threatened further action. Nicaragua borders Honduras.

Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa said he would participate in military action only if his envoys are threatened.

One of the fascinating things about Latin America is the way variations on the same themes play out slightly differently in the various LatAm nations. Since the rise of Hugo Chavez there has been a flurry of left-leaning governments elected in Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras (Zelaya moved left AFTER being elected), Guatemala, Ecuador (even in Mexico, although Andrés Manuel López Obrador was never allowed to take office, he possibly got the most votes in the 2006 election).

The recent unrest in Guatemala and this apparently successful military coup in Honduras could be indications that the leftist wave has crested. The Peruvian elections in 2010 could test that thesis, or prove it wrong.

UPDATE: NarcoNews is reporting some alarming news retracted an earlier report:

Correction: News reports translated by Narco News on Monday that Honduran political leader Cesar Ham had been assassinated appear not to be accurate. This report says otherwise, that Ham is alive and well. We apologize for any confusion caused by our first report, and share in the world's relief that the reports we initially translated were inaccurate.

They insist that leftist leader and honduran Cesar Ham is alive and safe
by Chevige Gonzalez Marco, Aporrea

Luther Castillo, coordinator of Honduran social movements, in an interview with the Cuban television program Mesa Redonda, denied that the leader of the Democratic Unification Party, Cesar Ham, has been assassinated.

Castillo also denied that Ham has been detained and said that he remains in a secure location, faced with the possibility of repression by the coup leaders.

If this report is confirmed, it will mark an alarming shift in events. So far the Honduran coup has been free of some of the worst traits of the many 20th century Latin American coups. The military immediately surrendered power and there had been no casualties.

If Ham has indeed been murdered, this raises the stakes dramatically.

Phew. Glad Ham is alright. Not surprised that false information is finding its way onto Notimex, NarcoNews' source.

More analysis from Charles Lemos of MyDD in the full entry:

I'm doing my best to not reintegrate. I suppose it is easy right now as I am couch-surfing at a friend's place, until I find something more permanent. (Not that I really want to, but I do need to replenish the bank account before I get on the road again.)

It's weird being home. Nothing has changed. Nothing. And that is disturbing. People still make the same old arguments in favor of or against just about everything, politics included. Fortunately my friends have accepted the fact that I won't reintegrate (they actually seem to appreciate it, albeit from a vicarious perspective) and the question they all ask is: "when are you leaving again? And where are you going?" Even my mom is intensely curious to know where I am going next. That's also weird. I was worried I wouldn't be able to reconnect with my friends, that there would be a distance between us--but so far (and it has only been a week) they seem not to care. The distance doesn't exist; I'm just Sean Paul to them, a little odd, adventurous and independent. And for that I am grateful. It's weird, but wonderful. Of course, they all want to know about Turkey, "travel tips, please?" And they all are fascinated by Lake Toba and ask all kinds of questions about it, but when I tell them how hard it is to get to they lose interest, which suits me fine. I hope the place remains undiscovered.

I witnessed some amazing sunsets on my journey. And I count my blessings I was able to see them all. But this evening as I was headed home I caught the fiery Hill Country sun washing out over the hills and smiled. A neon wasteland of Crispy Kreme's, Walmart's and Chili's lined the hard concrete freeways and yet, the Hill Country sun was as wonderful, warm and inviting as I ever recall it.

For the first time since I returned a week ago I grinned a giddy, childish and carefree grin, the same one I'd carried around for the last year, and mumbled under my breath, "it's good to be home."

What I miss most about being home is simple. I miss being able to walk out my door, be it in Istanbul, Singapore or India and walk down the street to get what I want, see my neighbors, smile at strangers and stretch my legs. (And I could care less if it is 105* out right now. It was hotter in India and Oman, by an order of magnitude and that never stopped me from walking.)

Here I have to get in a car to drive three miles to the nearest convenience store. What the hell is so convenient about that? No one smiles, no one says, "hello" and no one shares any local gossip. Everyone is a stranger. I felt less lonely and isolated in foreign countries than I do here. That just ain't right.

I like what Jenny Sanford said here:

To one reporter who wondered what might come of Mr. Sanford’s political career, Mrs. Sanford answered sharply: “His career is not a concern of mine. He’s going to have to worry about that. I’m worried about my family and the character of my children.”

In essence she said, "he's a dumbass." Someday a political wife is just going to come out and say that, what we all want her to say. This is the closest I've seen of it yet. I personally am tired of the women who come out and say they are going to stand by their men. I mean, really? The husbands are assholes, no?

Sabbath eve, June 26, 2009

Today marks the 16 year anniversary of my marriage to Leah. I feel fortunate to have such an intelligent and loyal woman for a partner and a soul mate. I’m also really cognizant of the fact that many others can't, for whatever reason, make such a statement.

As I write I’m listening to Charlie Robison’s brand new release, Beautiful Day. Charlie is recently divorced from Emily Robison of Dixie Chicks fame and the album is colored by his experience. Despite the sad nature of some of the songs, it’s an extremely good CD.