Gridlock News

A 9% burst in the Chinese stock market triggered a 3% drop in both the DOW and the Nasdaq in the United States today.  The US stock market also reacted the revelation of additional problematic fundamentals that included a spike in oil prices, a bombing targeted against Vice President Cheney, Alan Greenspan's warning of a potential recession and almost a dozen other problems, all at the same time.

The stock market rout points out a number of weaknesses in the economy as well as in the US electronic trading system, which suffered a partial server crash according to some reports that resulted in a backlog of orders.  Plus, it did not help calm investors that were still trying to sell off.

Details of the Dow Jones Server Problem

A Dow Jones Server responsible for calculating the Dow Jones Industrial Average got behind.  It was reporting numbers that were actually about an hour behind.  As Dow Jones started to correct the problem a major programmed Derivative trade (a sell off) came in and the DJIA dropped from a level of around 200 points dramatically down to 500 points.

Chinese Connection

Chinese has been investing a huge amount of their GDP into building up their manufacturing capability.  Many investors see this as a potential sign of trouble that could trigger a heated economy in China that could trigger Chinese inflationary concerns and a sell off on the fear of a Chinese or global recession.

The Problem

If China builds too much, both in terms of products but also in terms of production capability and the world can not consume that capacity the value of the produced goods will drop (they will be devalued in real terms).

If the Chinese government takes steps to fend off this problem, by trying to cool the economy that could help or it could hurt.  It depends on if they make the right move.

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I've mentioned this on a couple other site, but wanted to quickly share a little information about a useful tool that enables people to quickly make video slide shows set to music.

FlipTrack.com provides an easy video slide show tool that lets you upload your pictures and then synchronize the transition of those pictures to any segment of a song. Its a short fast and easy way to time out a slide show and put together a flash video that can be shared on a website or blog or even in an email.

FlipTrack provides the music files and you provide the pictures or slides. The music is safe for use on the internet, but you cannot use your own music in this beta version. Here is an example featuring a video that a user on FlipTrack created to parody the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Its an example of just how easy it is for anyone to rapidly build a video that can speak a thousand words with relatively little technical experience.

Former Senator Edwards made a campaign trail stop in new Hampshire on Saturday, where by recent accounts he dropped his own topic de jour, his health plan, in favor of promoting his past mistakes.  He took multiple opportunities to sidetrack his own speech and talk about his mistake in voting for the Iraq War.

Edwards typically takes the high road with his campaign and probably has achieved the most success from his mostly positive attitude when he's not talking about the plight of the down trodden.  Given his track record and the things that have worked for him, it seems to be a slight departure to trumpet his mistakes. 

As he goes into the Presidential campaigning season he's fighting against two other Senators that like himself have very little Senatorial experience compared to the norm on capital hill.  Barack Obama is only recently starting his first term and Senator Clinton is just starting her 2nd as compared to Joseph Biden who is working on his sixth term in the Senate.

Biden and Clinton both have a vote to defend as well in regards to Iraq and Obama has lack of experience to defend so its a little odd to harp on his own mistakes especially as he hopes to replace a President that is infamous for making mistakes.  The last thing Hillary Clinton will do is admit to a mistake.  She learned the poltiical expediency of that from her husband's problems with Monic Lewinsky and apparently George Bush is taking that 101 lesson to the bank as well.

If John Edwards is trying to show the American people that he can be a better President by making mistakes and admitting to those mistakes as opposed to President Bush who makes mistakes and refuse to admit it then Edwards may have a tough battle as most of the other candidates will take an approach that they don't mistakes at all.

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The new Congress has just gotten warmed up to their new jobs, but winter has everyone physically chilled.  In a few more weeks our politicians will be looking for ways to beat that chill and re-energize for the upcoming primaries and elections in 2008. 

Just like our politicians people from all over the country will be working to recover from a very cold and snowy winter.  Our sponsor OrlandoVacation.com provided a new web release detailing their Vacation homes near Disney in Orlando.  Their rental properties can provide the perfect retreat to recuperate, warm up in the sun and have a little fun as there are 52 of the great theme parks in the Orlando vicinity, not to mention beaches that are less than an hour away as well.

Politicians aren't the only one that need a break from the chilly winter, maybe that's just what the doctor ordered for you as well.

Iraqi special forces backed and by some accounts commanded by US troops stormed the Iraqi Health Ministry and detained Deputy Minister Hakim Zamili, a Sadr loyalist.  This is part of an overall crack down on those loyal to Muqtada Sadr, a cleric that is very anti-American.

This was the second raid in 6 months but the highest arrest of a public official.   The danger of this arrest is that it may be removing someone supporting extremists and dissent within the Iraqi Civil War, but it also highlights the weakened claim that Iraq has on its own sovereignty. 

The arrest did not come at the hands of Iraqi police but Iraqi forces under the command of US troops.  That basically indicates that US troops can take down any member of the government anytime they like.  That is a slippery slope that could significantly delay Americas departure from Iraq anytime soon.  If Iraq is to be a puppet state, then the US should quit beating around the Bush and admit it.  If not, then we need to be very careful not to weaken the government's control in the future.

New York recently became famous for banning transfats.  But now the entire state is considering banning iPods, Cell phones, black berry typing and Portable Game Playing while people cross streets.

"Hey let me let you go, I'm crossing the street, I'll call you back in 45 seconds."

Can you imagine having that conversation sometime soon when visiting New York City?

For that matter can you picture a traffic cop stopping people as they step on and off of curbs to cite them with a ticket for listening to their iPod or talking on their cell phones.  Not to mention there is a big grey area.

What about people that receive an emergency call half way across the street?

What if someone is wearing an ear bud for their phone but its not turned on?  Same thing for an iPod, what if the earbuds are in but the device is off?

The problem is real.  People go into electronic dazes as they talk, listen, type or play and they forget what they are doing.  Walking along with the hurd and then step off a curb and get run down by a car.

All those colorful Apple iPod ads of people dancing oblivious to their surroundings can get people killed near busy streets if they get sucked into the sound and don't hear a traffic signal, a siren, a horn or don't see the cross walk sign or interpret it fast enough.

I suspect that this law is not enforceabe.  This would not be the first piece of legislation thrown up by a legislator to get some attention, but it does raise some real issues.  People just can't pay attention to their surroundings when their brain is on electronics.

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Recent weeks have seen the John Edwards campaign hire two bloggers onto Edward's staff.  They were rapidly attacked in the blogosphere as Edward's antagonists attempted to link the bloggers personal blogging comments to Edwards own position.  The attack was spear headed by the President of the Catholic League Bill Donahue against Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan.

So far Edwards has decided to keep the bloggers on his staff, but has left the potential hanging that he might change his mind in the future and evidence the ability to waffle.   The bloggers made many comments regarding religion and the Catholic Church that inspired the attack.  Some of the comments may have used foul language, which would not be very presidential outside of a Kennedy or Nixon White House, but these are blogger staffers so the hub bub seems to be packed with Huh and not to much b'bub.

One of the blogs bogged in Pandemonium is Pandagon.  The blog is a personal liberal blog and not owned nor controlled by the Edwards campaign, just as any journal of a staffer is not owned by a campaign or the company that employs a person. 

Donahue himself is no stranger to making controversial comments like his response to Pat Buchanan at the time of the release of the Mel Gibson movie, the Passion of the Christ, where Donahue stated that 'Hollywood is controlled by Secular Jews that hate Christianity and the Catholic Church . . . .  You have got embittered ex-Catholics, including a lot of ex-Catholic priests who hate the Catholic Church, wacko Protestants in the same group. 

At the end of the day this is all about blog mud slinging, Blunging.  Blunging is not a new event in the blogosphere, but coming off a 2004 primary where bloggers came into their own, many liberal and now conservative bloggers have their act together and are digging down deep for any bit of Blung to fling, hoping to stick it to candidates on all sides.

The prosecution for the Scooter Libby perjury trial rested on Thursday.  Tim Russert was the final witness called by the prosecution and by all accounts he received a grilling commemorative of the grilling that he typically dishes out to his guests.  Mr. Libby's defense lawyer, Theodore Wells Jr, went at it with Russert for a second day on Thursday.  He attempted to pick apart Russert's claim that he never discussed Valerie Plame (Wilson) with Scooter Libby. 

The battle was fast paced and heated as the two veterans of professions that require fast talking, faster thinking and rapid follow ups dueled in the courtroom.  Libby claims that he learned of the Agents identity from newsman Russert.  Russert refutes that claim and states that Valerie Plame (Wilson) never came up during a specific conversation in 2003 that seems to be the focal point of the defense case.

Now, the Defense now gets their turn at the plate and they are expected to begin calling a long line of journalists next Monday.  The case is catching some attention today, but the real fireworks will only be lit if the defense calls Vice President Cheney as a witness. 

Based on the outcome of the case so far, that scenario looks likely.  Politics aside, if that is possible, it is in Libby's best interests to have the Vice President identified as the source of the leak.  Politically this is the last thing he wants.  However, his defense attorneys might not be able to resist calling the Vice President as it would likely seal their own fame and fortune and place in the history books if they are able to show that their client is innocent due to the guilt of the Vice President.  That would be a big if indeed, but given the worlds pention for the peculiar that possibility could be more of a probability.

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John McCain called bull on Democrats nonbinding resolution yesterday claiming they are being "intellectually dishonest."

He stated during an appearance on ABC, ""I don't think it's appropriate to say that you disapprove of a mission and you don't want to fund it and you don't want it to go, but yet you don't take the action necessary to prevent it . . .  In other words, this is a vote of no confidence in both the mission and the troops who are going over there."

McCain has the most to lose if the troop surge does not work and Democrats know this.  The nonbinding resolution is nothing more than an insurance policy against John McCain's run at the presidency.  Currently, McCain can not be faulted for the miserable failures in Iraq as the administration went against his advice and went into the country with too few troops.  Now that the administration is belatedly considering pushing more troops into Iraq, it serves McCain's political head up for examination. 

Democrats in essence are attempting to bind McCain to the surge in case it fails.  A surge that maintains the status quo or fails will be a trump card they can leverage to show that McCain's plan did not work.  Democrats may not be intellectually dishonest, but they are definitely being strategically political in their maneuvers for the White House.

It would be very fortunate for the country if they could turn even a small percentage of that strategic intellectualism towards coming up with a better plan for the country, however that has always been the problem for Democrats.  They can unite to defeat Republicans, but they can never unite to help the country as they are torn about from the inside by competing interests from organized labor on one hand to environmentalists on the other.

Voters may end up with the same choice they have had for several decades in 2008.  The choice between Democrat gridlock with no plans and a Republican plan staggering under the weight of being wrong for 8 years straight.

Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi wrote an op ed titled Obama's Race Dilemma this week.  The Op ed exposes a potential attack ploy that the Republicans may be testing with Senator Biden's recent comments about Barack Obama's ability to run a campaign that is appealing to White voters.

In Senator Biden's comments he supposedly let some comments slip that Barack Obama originally called 'unfortunate'.  The comments indicated that Obama might be the first African American candidate 'clean' enough to win.  It quickly appeared to many people in the African community that Barack Obama's attempt to take the high road on the issue without taking Biden down a peg or two proved to be unfortunate for Senator Obama.  Many other African American leaders came out to be even more critical of Biden's comments, Al Sharpton expressed the fact that he showers every day.

The problem Senator Obama faces according to the Globe article is that if he fights off comments like Biden's then Republicans will have succeeded in cornering him into a campaign as the 'black Presidential candidate and his appeal to White voters might diminish.  However, if he does not respond to comments that are either very unfortunate, politically incorrect, or down right racist, he may be seen by African American voters as a weak civil rights supporter.  This might even be compounded by the perception that he is not 'Black' as his father heralds from Kenya and his mother is white, schooled in foreign countries, he has some similarities with the black community in the US but many differences.

Could the Republicans neutralize Obama by running something akin to attack boat as firing light salvos in Obama's direction that touch the race card lightly, forcing him to deflect the shots or be seen as weak but at the same time polarizing him away his popular appeal as a candidate that might transcend race?

Similarly, could the same attack plan work on Hillary Clinton, who needs to transcend gender in the eyes of the American people.  If her campaign is forced to become a defense against women's rights it could detract her away from the other serious issues that all of the candidates must cover.

Race for Obama, Gender for Clinton, even Religion for Romney have all been identified as the potential weak links in their respective campaigns.  That leaves the questions

1.  Are those kryptonite links?

2.  Will the Republicans use this Kryptonite against these candidates?

Looking at the attack boat ads, the attacks do not even need to come from high level Republicans, but simply a PAC or public interest group fronting the attacks and message for Republicans.  Republicans had no problem attacking Vietnam vets with Vietnam vets.  Maybe they will now employ African Americans born from African American parents to attack Obama and women to attack Hillary.  It will turn the stomach of myself and many others, but will it work a second time around?

Personally, I hope they do not try, but I have little faith in politicians these days.

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While many states are losing their taste for the death penalty, the federal government is putting their death penalty push into overdrive. 

The last several years have seen many states sometimes led by the courts and some times led by Governors, putting the death penalty on hold or even repealing it.  There have been notable questions and problems about the legitimacy of the convictions to the constant juxtaposition of killing someone without being cruel.

While the states are killing fewer people, the federal government seems to have acquired a blood lust.  The number of people on Federal death row has doubled in the last six years according to the Wall Street Journal's Article "Federal Prosecutors Widen Pursuit of Death Penalty as States Ease Off" by Christopher Conkey and Gary Fields.

Plus the Federal government is delivering death verdicts with juries that have not convicted people to death row at the state level for decades.  The federal death penalty was reinstated in1988 after being revoked for almost three quarters of a century.  All executions take place in Indiana. 

Almost all other developed countries around the world condemn the United States for executing convicted felons.  It could be possible that as the States loose their blood lust for killing, that the Federal Government will take up that motivation and turn Indiana into the Developed Country's Death Capital of the World.  That raises an ugly specter for Indiana, which is fighting to bring business back into the state.

Utah has in the past fought to keep nuclear wastes from being dumped in its backyard by the feds, fearing the long term ramifications of becoming the nuclear waste land of the United States.  Could Indiana face a similar problem as it becomes the Death Row Waste land for the country?

At some point this conflict between the state rights and national priority might boil to a head with extreme issues such as nuclear waste disposal and the death penalty.  Leaving the question of how far might things go before states put their foot down and say that enough is enough.

In one of histories ironies, this week saw German prosecutors in Munich preparing arrest warrants for US CIA security service men and women.  The arrest warrants included crew and passengers of an aircraft that flew a German national kidnap victim from Germany to Afghanistan where he was allegedly tortured and imprisoned for several months.

The irony of the arrest coming from Germany against the United States helps bring a sharp relief on Americas place and direction in the world just 60 plus years after the end of World War II.  We can only wonder today if other war crimes committed since September 11, 2001 have been committed and if arrest warrants will actually flow from a true war crimes tribunal or if they will trickle out of other sovereign nations for as many years as Germany has seen similar proceedings occur with Nazi refugees.

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Despite the fact that we live in an internet age, there is still a great deal of value to be had in magazine subscriptions.  I work as a writer and read stories on the internet all day long.  However I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and a dozen other magazines from Entrepreneur to Forbes to Details and even Maxim.

Its important to gather a wide perspective on the news and culture and then to synthesize that perspective to help determine where the truth of a situation falls out at.  I learned this skill as an analyst for the US Army when I worked in military intelligence almost twenty years ago.

Our sponsor MagsDirect offers hundreds of magazine subscriptions that can help you stay on top of events in the world and take a break from the serious things and focus on relaxing with a hobby or learning a new skill or keeping up with your investments.  I always encourage my readers not to take my perspective or reports as the only word, but to look and find 2 or 3 or 6 views on the same report.  Many times the additional perspective and extra facts will make all the difference in the world.

Turner Broadcastings chief executive Phil Kent has spoken with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and pledged full cooperation including picking up the tab on expenses related to the emergency response to the marketing devices placed in Boston that triggered a major panic attack.

The marketing devices featuring a cartoon character shut down railroads and travel through much of the city and the security response is estimated to cost over $1m.

Turner has indicated that they did not mean to perpetuate a fraud.  Employees of the firm hired by Turner have been brought up on multiple criminal charges related to the media event.

Musa Qala was turned over to local control in October under a cease fire agreement conditioning that the Taliban would have to withdraw and allow tribal elders to rule.

Unfortunately, politics demanded progress in Afghanistan as opposed to dealing with the practical realities that the Taliban were fighting a war.  Insurgents in the area never withdrew and the Taliban attacked on Friday smashing government buildings and declaring a new round of hostilities shaking the Southern Afghanistan area and ending the peace deal.

The question becomes whether or not this is the opening gambit of the expected Taliban attacks for this spring or if its just the Taliban move to show their power in the area, a power which they received by default after the British withdrawal.

It is extremely unfortunate that our troops in Afghanistan (when I refer to our I refer to the American and British troops working together) had to give up territory that they fought and died for only so that they might have to fight and die and win it back again.  For the war or against the war the reality is that there is a war and it is being fought now whether we like it still or not.

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This week the War on Terror took a turn towards the bizarre and surreal.  Authorities shut down Boston as they found multiple suspicious packages around the city.  After detonating many of the packages, they later learned that the packages were nothing more than an advertising system deployed on behalf of non-other than Turner Broadcasting the parent of CNN.

Two men working for an agency hired by Turner were arrested and face many charges.  All of this promotional advertising material were directed at promoting a cartoon movie for an adult cartoon known as Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

An outer space delinquent that flies the bird in the advertisement turned out to be less dangerous than Osama Bin Laden, but a marked example of how much fear has penetrated into American culture where we now officially see real threats where there are only cartoons.

The Independent out of the UK is reporting that the world has ten years left to avert catastrophe.  They are reporting on the much expected yet still famous report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control (IPCC).  It is a panel setup jointly by the UN and the World Meteorological Society back in the late 1980's.

The report by the IPCC is the first volume of a multi volume assessment.  This first volume confirms the impact of global warming on the planet.  Additional volumes detailing the panels projections of the impact on the planet and then steps that can be taken to minimize, reduce or slow that impact will follow afterwards.

Then the Independent seems to leap away from the report and mention that some experts believe that the world appears to have ten years left to enact policies that might take action soon enough to stem the problem.

Their report seems to have moved away from the facts with the last sentence.