OK, I got lazy and Rico fell asleep on my couch before I could get him to mix up some of his killer Mimosas so, instead of made-to-order omelets and Belgian Waffles, this morning we’re serving coffee and pastries donuts with your morning news.

For starters, just in case you thought something earth-shattering occurred in the following areas, let me confirm that

The Democrats are still pretending to work on healthcare reform

Michael Jackson is still dead and it just might be a homicide.

Swine flu is still in the news

and

Goldman Sachs is still running the world

Now, what else is going on? – there’s so much more after the fold!

National and World News

First up, let’s talk some Sarah P.

Is Sarah Palin setting aside party affiliation and supporting candidates on their merits and not the letter that follows their name? Maybe.

The former Republican vice-presidential nominee and heroine to much of the GOP’s base said in an interview she views the electorate as embattled and fatigued by nonstop partisanship, and she is eager to campaign for Republicans, independents and even Democrats who share her values on limited government, strong defense and “energy independence.”

“I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation,” she said over lunch in her downtown office, 40 miles from her now-famous hometown of Wasilla — population 7,000 — where she began her political career.

Maybe the “independent party” theory being floated is not so far-fetched after all. But then again, she’s probably just sick and tired of the continuous assault of ethics complaints from the Palin-hate crowd

In a statement released late Friday night, Palin’s office announced that two more ethics complaints had been filed against the governor in the week since she made her surprise announcement that she plans to step down later this month -including one complaint filed on Friday.

“Although the governor would not have thought it possible, the latest complaint rises to a new level of absurdity in alleging that she has been paid for interviews that she has given to the news media,” Palin’s chief of staff Mike Nizich said in a release announcing the filing of the recent complaints.

Health Care news

Want to know which Democratic Senators are balking at a public option? Check out this site, complete with instructions on how to contact them. (WARNING, this guy is a big Obama supporter and you’ll note the banner “The Official Morning Show of the Obama Generation” but heck, good information is good information.)

Other National and World News

*Big brother is moving full steam ahead in the plan to make every person a 24/7 GPS tracking unit.  The worst part is, hackers have already figured out how to scan and steal this identification information.

Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he’d bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car.

It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker’s gold.

Zipping past Fisherman’s Wharf, his scanner detected, then downloaded to his laptop, the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians’ electronic U.S. passport cards embedded with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags. Within an hour, he’d “skimmed” the identifiers of four more of the new, microchipped PASS cards from a distance of 20 feet.

Obama News

*Obama sez “hang in there…hope and change are coming.” Yeah…so is Christmas.
President Urges Public Patience on Economy

*Obama takes a firm tone in his speech to the people of Ghana:
Barack Obama tells Africa to stop blaming the West for its woes on historic Ghana visit

Adopting a tone his white predecessors never dared employ, the US President told Africa it could no longer blame the West for all its woes.

“Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner,” he told the Ghanaian parliament. “But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.”

Ruh Ro…Congress realizes it can tell the prez to take his signing statements and shove ‘em
Congress Suddenly Remembers It Can Cut Off Funds

Yesterday, the House voted almost unanimously — 429-2 — to negate a signing statement Obama issued that rejected restrictions Congress had placed on funding for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Obama had claimed the restrictions in the June supplemental spending bill “would interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations” and declared that “I will not treat these provisions as limiting my ability to engage in foreign diplomacy or negotiations.”

That an amendment by a Republican — Kay Granger of Texas — would pass a Democratic House with only two dissenting votes was striking in itself. But the Obama administration also got a broader warning during the floor debate, as House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey of Wisconsin and Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts said Congress might simply refuse to fund the administration’s requests in the future if it wants to make a fuss about the strings that are attached.

***************************** and still more on the National & World news front

*When can we finally celebrate the fact that this guy is no longer in the news?
Cheney linked to concealing CIA project: Articles HERE and HERE.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always known he was an evil bastard.  I know that in this case others are bringing him back into the news, but what I really want to know is “how can we get him to go away and STFU?”

*The cyber-attacks on the State Department continue for fourth day

According to computer security experts, a dozen US government websites, including those of the White House, Pentagon and State Department, were targeted in a coordinated cyberattack which also struck sites in South Korea.

*The heck with Labor Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Only 167 shopping days left till Christmas and Sears wants to get us thinking about snow, sleigh bells, and shiny things.

*What’s new with the Climate Bill?:  In predicting the wrath that will befall the earth should the Senate fail to deliver the president’s cap and trade climate bill, Barbara Boxer plays “Moses” in the Senate by threatening:

“…droughts, floods, fires, loss of species, damage to agriculture, worsening air pollution and more”

and for those still iffy about rolling out of bed…

*Who’s on the Sunday Morning Talk shows? (aka, “should you get up or hit the snooze alarm again?”)   Looks like a bunch of Congressional reps bloviating gasbags called upon to blather about Sotomayor’s appointment and their (kabuki theater) actions on healthcare reform. Oh…and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is stopping by CNN to talk about healthcare and swine flu. Yeah…hit the snooze button.

Some Excellent Morning Links from MaBlue

More Sarah Palin headlines

• White House ‘dirty tricks’ torpedo Palin

Even More Obama headlines

• A dog fight Obama seems bound to lose
• Obamas tour slavers’ fort in ‘painful’ Ghana visit
• Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children

The Honduras “coup” intrigue continues

• Honduras had a new kind of coup
• Administration took the lead in Honduras crisis only after OAS failed

Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the spotlight this week

• Sotomayor hearing starts Monday
• Path to Supreme Court: Speak Capably, Say Little
• The Judge Sotomayor I’ve Faced

The Economy

• California’s IOUs May Not Fly With Banks
• Nouriel Roubini: Still Gloomy, But Sees Pace of Contraction Slowing

And on other fronts:

• Sanford hangs on — with the help of his wife
• Iran summons Italian envoy over G8 protests

Arts and Leisure

*Oh noes! Casey Kasem finally steps down from the world of the “Top 40″ countdown.

*Check out the fabulous Origami Art of Won Park – “The Master of Origami Paper Folding.”

*This is art? Maybe. Artist Simon Faithfull’s “Gravity Sucks” exhibit opened Friday in London. The exhibit’s highlight is a 25 minute film that features and office chair being shot into space.

While captivating at its most basic, physical level, Faithfull’s work also speaks of the futility of human attempts to escape “the trivial, the mundane and the self”. And also of the beauty in the soul’s constant attempts to soar beyond “the forces of everyday reality”.

Travel Ideas

While traveling throughout our great nation this summer you may want to check out some of these unique museums such as the The Spam Museum, in Austin Minnesota,  or the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas or the favorite of tinfoil hatters like me all across America, the Conspiracy Museum in Dallas Texas.

“By definition, a successful conspiracy leaves no evidence: no umbrella pistol, no microfilm hidden in a pumpkin, no desiccated alien hung in a meat freezer. That makes it difficult to get exhibits for a conspiracy museum. And the Conspiracy Museum in Dallas is not just A conspiracy museum; it’s THE conspiracy museum. Its theme is the uberplot, the bulbous head of the evil octopus whose tentacles reach into every world capital and every corporate boardroom.”

Oddly, the Conspiracy Museum website notes that the museum is currently “closed” and you must “call to verify.” Hmmmm… I wonder what’s up with that?

Also, ever wonder where all of the macaroni art ends up? Well in the Museum of Bad Art of course!

“Since 1994, the Museum of Bad Art has been dedicated to bad art. It is only through the efforts of the worldwide Friends of MOBA that we have been able to carry out our mission: to bring the worst of art to the widest of audiences.”

For information on more unusual museums, check out this post at Mental Floss.

*Still need something to do on your vacation? Why not check out these “Spite Houses” – monuments to that ubiquitous vice of spite.

“For as good as humans can be, we have a far greater capacity to be angry and vengeful. This vengeance takes many forms; some kill, some cheat, some will glue your butt cheeks together while you sleep. But few go as far as erecting a building as a monument to their anger toward another.

This, friends, is what is called a spite house. It doesn’t matter if a spite house is pretty much an unlivable waste of space, that’s beside the point. They’re all about draining tons of cash and time in to a building that may as well be shaped like a hand giving you the middle finger with a pair of testicles hanging off of the wrist.”

Odds and Odder Ends

*Bear breaks into house and devours a box of chocolates

The animal appeared to have pushed aside vegetables in the couple’s fridge in favor of a two-pound box of chocolates, Alsky said.

He said the bear also tried to open a bottle of champagne, but was not successful.

Sounds like it might be hard to tell if you’ve been burglarized by that bear or just experiencing a visit from some pesky in-laws.

also

*Now that they’ve developed the technology to transmit brain commands to electronic devices, could that mean hacking our brains is the next step? Oh dear!

*Here’s something you don’t see everyday, “llamas on the lam”

and

*Here’s something we see a bit too often — These teen texters have definitely got to get a grip:
Teen Girl Falls In Open Manhole While Texting
Whatever happened to *real* conversation?! There were certainly less injuries.

And finally, file these under “there are certain places you shouldn’t be packing heat” – the bathroom and the bedroom:

*Using restroom, woman receives unfriendly fire in Tampa

and

*Prosecutors: Woman shot man during foreplay

About the incident:

[the woman] did admit to being in possession of the handgun and using it as a toy during foreplay with the victim’s acquiescence and request for it to be used in that manner.”

(I don’t even want to imagine where they were trying to put that gun)

So what’s on your mind this morning? And don’t forget to get a napkin with that glazed donut!

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(It’s just like Obamaland without the Kool-aid)

This is an open thread

There was a time when I associated the Democratic Party with liberal ideals and considered them to be champions of the working class and the poor.  Where did that party go?  From FISA, to FOCA, to torture, to bank give-aways, to abandoning real healthcare reform, and to so-called stimulus packages that brought nothing more than increased unemployment and devastating debt to be passed on to our heirs, their actions are nothing like the party I once knew.  It wasn’t like this during the Clinton years.  Bill Clinton defined for me and many others what being a Democrat meant.  Because of Bill, I not only voted for Democrats, I fought like hell for Democratic candidates.  I gave of my time and my money – both precious – to see that as many candidates from this great party were seated in the highest offices of government. I wanted to sustain the good times for the middle class and I wrapped my hopes in the idea that someday Hillary would return to the White House and take us back to the days of peace and prosperity we had with Bill. But somewhere my party took a decidedly right turn.  They continued to wear their “D’s” but failed to maintain the precious ideals of the party; and on one issue after another, these counterfeit Dems failed us and they continue to do so, with each and every bill they pass.

As an example, let’s look at the alleged credit card reform recently signed by our president.  If past history was any indicator, his vote against interest rate caps should have been sufficient warning (remember his famous “they weren’t low enough so no cap is better than some cap” answer during the debates?), so I guess I cannot say I was surprised to see more snake oil coming from this faux Dem administration.  I was however dismayed to hear the problem defined as a consumer-driven one; because of course, as Obama says, the problem with credit cards is:

“…those who buy more than they can afford through “reckless spending or wishful thinking.”

and that

“Some get in over their heads by not using their heads,” the president said. “I want to be clear: We do not excuse or condone folks who’ve acted irresponsibly.”

Gee, President Obama, thanks for the lecture.

Maybe if he lived in the real world he’d know that there are people out here without jobs that are using their credit cards for extravagant purchases like groceries and healthcare.  Yes, it’s funny what that silly survival instinct does to people. All you irresponsible folks splurging on food and medicine can just tighten your belts and go without those luxuries.

In any event, a major part of the bill gave credit card companies a full nine months before they would have to abide by any of the changes, such as the requirement to provide advance notice before raising interest rates (In other words, they now have to stab in you in the heart not the back).  However, I guess it’s not all bad because there are some consumer protections in the bill such as:

Under the bill, a customer would have to be more than 60 days behind on a payment before seeing a rate increase on an existing balance. Even then, the lender would be required to restore the previous, lower rate if the cardholder pays the minimum balance on time for six months.

Consumers also would have to receive 45 days’ notice and an explanation before their interest rates increased.

Unsurprisingly, real reform measures such as credit card interest rate caps may happen someday, but not with this bill:

Left out of the bill, thanks to credit card industry lobbying: Two proposals to impose rate caps of 15 percent and 36 percent annual percentage rate on credit cards and other loans.

So how do you think these credit card companies are using their nine month grace period?  I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.  Yep, they’re using this time to figure out how to gouge us even more.  I’ve already heard stories of people having their interest rates doubled during this pre-bill implementation period, and now it appears that they’ve figured out the perfect way to circumvent every pro-consumer provision of this bill and drain the last few pennies from our piggy banks.  They are accomplishing this end run by shifting away from “fixed” interests rates and moving towards variable rates.

Now, isn’t that special? But hey, we’ve still got that great guarantee of at least 45 days notice that Obama and co. put into the bill as I mentioned above, right?    Wrong.

“The changes will make it easier for issuers to bump up the rates they charge without notifying cardholders. By contrast, fixed-rate cards typically must first mail a notice to clients announcing any rate changes. The changes come at a time when issuers are rushing to comply with new legislation that will soon limit their ability to raise rates on existing balances, require them to notify customers at least 45 days in advance of any changes to their terms, and make them eliminate other confusing practices.”

So, Charlie Brown meet football – again.  Maybe if we had the kind of money the credit card companies were able to lavish upon Obama and co., we might have gotten a fair shake.  But hey, who are we to complain?  The credit card problems are all our fault anyway, right?

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Jonathan Sanchez

From SFGate:

The Giants’ 33-year no-hitter drought ended at China Basin on Friday night, and the pitcher who threw the nine innings of brilliance was not a Cy Young Award winner, nor a 300-game winner, nor a pitcher with a nine-figure contract. It was a pitcher so bad this year he was banished to the bullpen last month, a man who had not thrown a complete game in 50 big-league starts.

It was Jonathan Sanchez, a 26-year-old left-hander who until this night was the personification of pitching promise unfulfilled. Now, his name is etched forever on the list of this franchise’s great achievements.

In an 8-0 victory, with his father watching him start a major-league game for the first time, Sanchez no-hit the San Diego Padres and nearly had a perfect game. The only baserunner was Chase Headley, who reached on an error by third baseman Juan Uribe with one out in the eighth inning.

It was the first no-hitter by a Giant since John Montefusco’s in Atlanta on Sept. 29, 1976, the first ever at China Basin, the 17th in franchise history and the first in the majors since the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano no-hit Houston last season.

And across America today, people will look at a staff that features Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Randy Johnson and say, Jonathan Sanchez?

But the damn Dodgers are still in first place by 7 games.

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State of the art conference facilities aboard the Golgafrincham Ark Flagship

Once upon a time, in a galazy far, far away, the planet Golgafrincham decided “to get rid of the useless third of its population”.  So, they concocted a story that the planet was going to shortly meet a catastrophic end and built an Ark to send some of their people to another planct.  They filled the Ark with hairdressers, TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, managment consultants and telephone sanitizers.  The hairdressers probably just made a noble sacrifice so as to not raise suspicions among the insurance salesman, for who can go without a good hairdresser?

These middle men, who were told that their functions were critical for setting up a new colony, were loaded up into the Ark and shot in to space.  History does not record what happened to the remaining residents of Golgafrincham  before they were wiped out by a virus contracted from dirty telephones but it can be assumed they finally got the single payer health care they’d been waiting for.

The chronicles tell us that the travellers on the Ark crash landed on prehistoric earth, mated with the neolithic populations and became (some of) our ancestors.  Their descendents walk among us today, as Wendell Potter, former head of PR for Cigna tells us.  It is only fitting that we return these wandering middle men to their natural habitat.  We should send them, plus a few investment bankers and class action lawyers, back to Golgafrincham with a little post-it note that says, ” S. E. P.”*

*Somebody else’s problem.

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Economists and social scientists of all stripes have found how much the advancement of societies and the development of economies and technologies are dependent on rule of law.  It is currently the central component of Development Economics.  This is something unimagined when the Solow Growth model spun its tale of the importance of capital (that would be plant and equipment) later to be augmented by other models that studied things like ‘technological exogenous shocks’ or learning or methods of production or human capital.  They had forgotten that in order for all these things to exist there must be a defined rule of law supported by a functional and incorruptible government.  Perhaps this is because the dismal science of economics tries to forget its roots in philosophy and the more mundane study of political science so that it can be taken as part of the “serious” and better paying career paths given finance and accounting.

However, if you look to other social sciences such as psychology,  you find things like Maslow’s Hierarchy.  This framework packages human needs into tiers of  significance and ranks them according to importance.  Bottommost needs first so there are several basic things required for advanced human endeavor to occur.  Advanced human endeavor includes many things. But Maslow’s main thesis is that you must have food, clothing, and shelter and you must be safe from harm first before other things can occur. Even the act of needing other people comes later in the hierarchy of human needs.

Arrangements that keep people safe from harm frequently come via  human contracts.  If you look back on political arrangements from the earliest of civilizations (history and political science), you find that people will actually pay a high price for security.  They will accept forms of servitude and even slavery to ensure their safety.  An example of this comes from the middle ages and can be found in the arrangement between serf and lord.  We have evolved since then. Now we pay for this with tax dollars and if we are lucky, income, and our contracts are much more elaborate.  The motivation, however, is the same as when a group of wandering, upright early persons formed a tribe and specialized into hunting and gathering.  We remain, at heart, people who need people.

The U.S Constitution, The Magna Carta and the City Charter where you live all strike the appropriate bargains for what it is to be civilized in the 21st century.  These arrangements grant a government certain powers  while we promise to feed the government and its infrastructure with our taxes.  These elaborate bargains now come with  a means  and a manner to keep in check the civil servants that are there to serve and protect those who provide their jobs and upkeep.

Rule of Law is central to all of this.  This means a fully functioning justice system that is minimally corruptible. If you’re fortunate enough to be well read in some of the readings of the founders of the U.S. you will see the ongoing debates on how to establish, maintain, and guard well the rule of law.  These wise people knew that  keeping the functionality of the contract was at the heart of our social contract with our government and with each other.

The true founding of our country was really that day in September when this still functional contract, our U.S. Constitution, was signed.  Oh, you can send up fireworks on the fourth of July and picnic with an appreciation for the seemingly abundant  blessings of  ‘liberty’ to celebrate the conception of our nation.  Just remember, the true birth date occurred when that document was signed on September 17, 1787 for it defines our liberties and corrals those who conspire to remove them from us because they put their own self interest above the interest of their society.   Many of my direct ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence which was  indeed an act of bravery.  The two I have that signed the Constitution are the two to which I feel more indebted.  To those and the other signers and the signers of the Magna Carta before them, we owe much.  Each word and right was carefully crafted and negotiated.  That is because they define what the government owes to its peoples.  This is our sacred oath as members of a civilized unit to each other and to ourselves.  This is what we ask our soldiers to die for and for which so many of us will and do make sacrifices of various levels.

I’ve been away for a few days learning what it means to have your civil rights taken from you by people who put their own interests above this rule of law.  I was severely beaten by a felon and his wife. This happened on Independence Day.  This is not unusual nor special because there are always those who wish to circumvent rules for personal gain.  What is special about this is they were empowered to do so by a police officer. I was beaten while he was standing there.  He then called for other officers to arrest me.  He shooed off the officers that came from the 911 call I made while simultaneously huddling on the ground while being stomped by a man much larger than myself.  I’m recovering from my wounds and according to several doctors, it will take some time.

I learned a lot from a night in sheriff’s prison and from my experience with a system that denied me my civil rights repeatedly.  It has taken me the better part of a week to do what I must do to begin to reclaim what was taken from me, and through me, what was taken from each one of us.  It was a few people that  broke this contract.  But I ask you to remember, that we must be ever vigilant for those that would do that to the least among us or any of us.  They imperil all of us.

I cannot talk about it right now but I will when I am able and when the wheels of justice that were started that day in September 17, 1787 begin to roll and work like the strong machine of justice designed years ago.  I’m not certain that my g.g.g.g grandfather knew that what he signed might protect one that was specifically his own or if he meant it to protect  us, our tribe.  Remember, it is the U.S. Constitution that protects us all as a tribe.  It is not our language, our genes, our skin color, our genitalia, our objects of love, affection, marriage or sex, it is not the object(s) of worship or if we worship at all that bind us as a tribe and brands us as U.S. Citizens.  We are bound by the mutual heritage of the rule of law as given to us as our birthright or by the oath of naturalization by the U.S. Constitution.  When any one of us has these rights and laws taken from us, we all lose.  That is why we must be ever vigilant and we must see that the protection of the Constitution is forever available to all of our tribe.  And by ALL, I mean ALL.  We must know that the loss to one, is a loss to ALL.

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While the rest of the country strips Sarah Palin of her humanity for no good reason except that mobbing is so much fun, something very weird is going on with Goldman-Sachs.  There are a number of credible sources reporting now on the arrest of Sergey Alenyikov on July 4, 2009 at Newark Airport.  Mr. Alenyikov is accused of stealing G-S source code and uploading it to a computer somewhere in Europe.  Goldman sent the Feds to round up the rogue programmer because, as the US Attorney on the case says, the source can be used to manipulate the market.  Daytraders who monitor the market very closely say that they noticed some non-linear activity in the several weeks leading up to the arrest and that afterwards, the markets seemed to have returned to normal, whatever that means since last year’s crash.

But it gets more interesting.  As Bloomberg notes, how do we know that Goldman-Sachs hasn’t been using this code all along to manipulate the markets?  The theory goes something like this: Goldman-Sachs gets to put a unix server with the code on a network cable somewhere and uses a packet sniffer to watch the transactions that come across from traders at other companies.  With that knowledge, G-S is able to anticipate trades and shave a bit off for itself for every transaction.  If this is true, it means that G-S has a massively unfair advangtage in trading compared to, well, just about everyone else. Here’s a post at the Big Orange Cheeto for those of you who eat netstats for breakfast and think Perl poetry is romantic.  It goes into quite a bit of technical detail.

Check out this video from Bloomberg that lays it all out:

What’s really disturbing about this case is that the government seems to be extraordinarily receptive to calls for help from G-S.  Either the Goldman crew close to the White House is concerned with losing their bonuses or the potential for market failure is huge. Either way, it lessens confidence in the system.  It looks like “all traders are equal except some traders are more equal than others”.  What happens to the system when the people who have no choice but to operate in it no longer have any trust?  This leads me to my podcast du jour recommendation.  This one is from Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet.  Her topic this past week was The Science of Trust with guest Chris Farrell, a neuroeconomist.  The secret to keeping everyone honest is the neurotrsnsmitter hormone oxytocin.  Oxytocin promotes empathy.  Approxomately 2% of the population has insufficient levels of oxytocin to experience empathy with other human beings(and you’re probably thinking they all work at Goldman-Sachs, right?)

Farrell says that the lax regulatory system is partially responsible for the financial disaster, although he takes a pretty long time before he gets around to saying it.  Farrell thinks that for *most* people, *most* of the time, the feelings of empathy lead to a sense of reponsibility and honesty.  That’s why you might have felt you could trust your banker with your money.  But in recent years, there have been advances in technology that lead to a depersonalization of the banker-client relationship.  It’s hard to see the person behind an account number on a monitor.

The podcast is part of a series by Tippett on Repossessing Virtue, all highly recommended.  You don’t have to be religious to have an ethical model.  But ethics, virtue and trust are all severely lacking in this dog eat dog world where nothing much makes sense.  Societies start to unravel when the sense of morality and consideration for others is replaced by, well, nothing at all.

If Tippett is concerned with repossessing virtue, I guess you could say that the fundamentalist group, The Family, is concerned with redefining it.  A second podcast recommendation is one that Terry Gross did last week on The Family, a religious community in DC that has been the spiritual guiding force for many enemies of The New Deal over the decades.  John Ensign was a recent alumni as was Governor Sanford of South Carolina.  The Family believes the end justifies the means and that chosen Family members are possessed of the virtue that requires no further regulation by the government.  They will lead us because it is their destiny and if they cheat on their wives on Family property, it must mean that God works in mysterious ways.  Caveat: Terry Gross is the best interviewer in the world but she has kool-ade psychosis and it is unfortunately seeping into her interviews.  “The propaganda is strong in this one.”  Proceed with caution.  Her bias shows.  Even so, if this group is only 1/10th as bad as the interview suggests, it’s pretty bad.

Update: It looks like Citadel is getting in on the act now.  The former head quant at Citadel started a new company called Teza Technologies and hired Aleynikov. Mikail Malyshev signed a 9 month noncompete clause when he left Citadel back in February.  That means he wasn’t supposed to open his door until November.  Maybe it’s all a preparation phase thing.  Teza is cooperating with the FBI. This stuff is starting to sound familiar.  Several of my former colleagues (all Russians BTW, tho’ I’m sure it’s all a coincidence) have gone to work for quant firms, though I can’t imagine they’ll be writing code.  Who knows?

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Dems on Dems Violence: Healthcare Edition

Blue Dog Democrats are a bunch of assholes thumb sucking 3-years old.
Conservative Democrats break ranks on health care

The “Blue Dog Democrats” group released a list of demands on the eve of House Democratic leaders’ planned unveiling of their final bill Friday. The bill release was pushed back to next week and Democratic leaders spent part of Friday meeting with the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs to work through their concerns.

Obama confident of passing healthcare reform

The conservative Democrats, known as the Blue Dog Democrats, also took aim at the president’s proposal for a public insurance option to compete with private insurers in a marketplace that would provide plans for those who cannot buy coverage through their employers.

‘Moderate Dems’ squeeze President Obama

“What you don’t want to do is to give the Republicans the fodder to be able to say, ‘Yeah, we’ve got these moderate Democrats with us — and then we’ve got these leftists, these socialists like Obama proposing these programs,’” says Drew Westen, a political psychology expert and author of “The Political Brain.”

Kennedy’s voice missed in health debate

“Obviously, if Kennedy were here, the whole process would be further along,’’ said Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa and a senior member of Kennedy’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “He’d be working his magic. He has a way of getting everybody on board.’’

Obama’s LBJ Moment

White House officials say with some pride that Obama doesn’t draw lines in the sand. Maybe he should. If political capital is measured by popularity, Obama still has plenty. What he doesn’t seem to have is a willingness to spend it.

Meanwhile in GOPville

Sarah Palin vs. the GOP

Republican candidates are shying away from inviting Palin to campaign for them. Is Palin losing her party?

John Ensign’s parental bailout

Was the $96,000 Ensign’s parents gave to his mistress a gift, a payoff, or a crime?

A $30,000 an hour attorney? Palin report overstates inquiries’ costs

Beyond the Palin

Why the GOP is falling out of love with gun-toting, churchgoing, working-class whites.

Prosecution Is Off The Table

It all happened in the past, you know…
Bush-era surveillance went beyond wiretaps

The Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely publicized warrantless wiretapping program, a government report disclosed Friday, encompassing additional secretive activities that created “unprecedented” spying powers.

The report also raised new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice Department officials in the dark as it launched the surveillance program.

Democrats Call for Full Investigation of CIA Allegations

US accused of inaction after Taliban POWs killed in ’01

After a mass killing of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war by the forces of a US-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Bush administration officials repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode, according to government officials and human rights organizations.

Is there still any doubt that this country run for 8 long years by a bunch of thugs?

Wiretaps risked a crisis

The Bush program’s secrecy – only three Justice lawyers knew of it – nearly brought mass resignations.

U.S. Wiretaps Were of Limited Value, Officials Report

While the Bush administration had defended its program of wiretapping without warrants as a vital tool that saved lives, a new government review released Friday said the program’s effectiveness in fighting terrorism was unclear.

I didn’t know this nonsense was still around
Will Obama scrap Bush’s color-coded terror alerts?

Obama And The World

Obama and the Pope: Agreeing to Disagree on “Life” Issues

Obama plans no big public appearances in Africa visit

Though Obama Viewed Positively, Still Much Criticism of US Foreign Policy

The US is criticized for coercing other nations with its superior power (15 of 19 nations), failing to abide by international law (17 of 19 nations), and for how it is dealing with climate change (11 of 18 nations). Overall, views are mixed on whether the US is playing a mainly positive or mainly negative role in the world.

The Burden of (High) Expectations

For blacks, a hidden cost of Obama’s win?

“What was the price of Obama’s election? In part, it was that we can no longer talk about race explicitly around national policy issues, or at least [Obama] can’t, without being accused of playing identity politics,” says Eddie Glaude, professor at the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. “So the question is then: How do African-American communities engage issues in light of their particular experiences without being accused of pushing a racial agenda?”

Economy Watch

Read this story carefully. It contains some very very interesting nuggets.
Goldman Sachs Loses Grip on Its Doomsday Machine

(h/t maxkeiser.com)

From Treasury to Banks, an Ultimatum on Mortgage Relief

Obama says stimulus plan to kick in later this year

President Barack Obama said on Saturday more time was needed for his $787 billion (485 billion pound) stimulus package to work, predicting the spending would have a bigger impact on the economy later this year.

China and the dollar

The dollar’s role as the world’s main reserve currency is being challenged

Demographics and Deflation: an unpleasant comparison

Mixing morals and money

To judge from his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, published this week, Pope Benedict XVI agrees with those who say that something has gone wrong with the way the world does business. What makes his document unusually disturbing and thought-provoking is an assumption he does not share.

Lunch with the FT: Larry Summers

Around The World

G-8 Celebrates Summit of Unity

A clear statement on Iran, ambitious targets for climate protection and billions of dollars in aid for developing countries: the G-8’s ability to make real decisions has impressed its critics. Yet it was easy to regard the summit as a success when expectations were so low.

Honduras Coup Reveals Deep Divisions in Latin America

The coup in the small Central American nation of Honduras reveals the deep divisions in the region. The triumphal march of the leftist followers of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has provoked the established elites. The knee-jerk reaction in Honduras has been, yet again, to stage a coup.

Uighurs Force Opening of Mosques in Urumqi

Crowds of Muslim Uighurs ignored orders canceling Friday prayers and talked their way in to at least two mosques in neighborhoods hit by ethnic tensions here, as officials raised the death toll and released the first ethnic breakdown of casualties in riots Sunday.

China has learned how to spin
Urumqi unrest: China’s savvier media strategy

Taking a cue from Western PR tactics, Beijing moved away from trying to block coverage altogether – and was benefited by doing so.

Frail Kim Jong-il ‘may only have months to live’

Kim Jong-il is seriously ill and is likely to be dead before the end of the year, according to a source within the North Korean leader’s own family.

Seven Somalis beheaded by extremists for ’spying for government’

Seven people accused of renouncing Islam and spying for the Government were beheaded in Somalia yesterday in a move that underlined the growing authority of the country’s Islamist insurgents.

More News

Civil rights group warns of neo-Nazis in the US military

The appearance of 40 active-duty US soldiers on a social networking site known as the “fascist Facebook” appears to add credibility to a controversial government report released in April about extremism in the military.

Jackson death may have been ‘homicide’, says police chief

The Los Angeles police chief has raised the prospect of a homicide charge over the death of Michael Jackson.

Saudi casting call: one kiss and it’s over for women

The World Of Science

Katiebird will certainly love this one.
Calorie-Counting Monkeys Live Longer

Rodents, yeast, and roundworms all have something in common: They live longer when they consume less. Now a primate has joined the calorie-restriction club. After 20 long years of waiting, scientists have concluded that rhesus monkeys that eat nearly a third less food than normal monkeys age more slowly. The results come as close as any can to proving that calorie restriction could significantly slow aging in humans–even if such a lean diet would not appeal to most of us.

Why live longer if the precondition is such unrelenting misery?

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The picture:

This has to be the weirdest story of the day. From the MSNBC transcript:

O’DONNELL: What, what’s happened?

BROOKS: You know, all three of us spend a lot of time covering politicians and I don’t know about you guys, but in my view, they’re all emotional freaks of one sort or another. They’re guaranteed to invade your personal space, touch you. I sat next to a Republican senator once at dinner and he had his hand on my inner thigh the whole time. I was like, ehh, get me out of here.

HARWOOD: What?

BROOKS: I can only imagine what happens to you guys.

O’DONNELL: Sorry, who was that?

BROOKS: I’m not telling you, I’m not telling you. But so, a lot of them spend so much time needing people’s love and yet they are shooting upwards their whole life, they’re not that great in normal human relationships. And so, they’re like freaks, they don’t know how to, they’re lonely. They reach out. I’ve spoken to a lot of young women who are Senate staffers and they’ll have these middle age guys who are sort of in the middle of a mid-life crisis. Emotionally needy, they don’t know how to do it and sort of like these St. Bernards drooling everywhere. And you find a lot of this happens in mid-life and among very powerful people who are extremely lonely.

Just one question: why did Brooks leave the guy’s hand there through the whole dinner? Washington, D.C. is a very strange place, whether you’re talking about the politicians or the press.

The video is at Think Progress.