By Larry Johnson
closeAuthor: Larry Johnson
Name: Larry Johnson
Email: larry_johnson@earthlink.net
Site: http://NoQuarterUSA.net
About: Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm with expertise combating terrorism and investigating money laundering. Mr. Johnson works with US military commands in scripting terrorism exercises, briefs on terrorist trends, and conducts undercover investigations on counterfeiting, smuggling and money laundering.
Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management.
Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC's Nightline, NBC's Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world, including the Center for Research and Strategic Studies at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France. He represented the U.S. Government at the July 1996 OSCE Terrorism Conference in Vienna, Austria.
From 1989 until October 1993, Larry Johnson served as a Deputy Director in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He managed crisis response operations for terrorist incidents throughout the world and he helped organize and direct the US Government’s debriefing of US citizens held in Kuwait and Iraq, which provided vital intelligence on Iraqi operations following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Mr. Johnson also participated in the investigation of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103. Under Mr. Johnson’s leadership the U.S. airlines and pilots agreed to match the US Government’s two million-dollar reward.
From 1985 through September 1989 Mr. Johnson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. During his distinguished career, he received training in paramilitary operations, worked in the Directorate of Operations, served in the CIA’s Operation’s Center, and established himself as a prolific analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence. In his final year with the CIA he received two Exceptional Performance Awards.
Mr. Johnson is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security. He taught at The American University’s School of International Service (1979-1983) while working on a Ph.D. in political science. He has a M.S. degree in Community Development from the University of Missouri (1978), where he also received his B.S. degree in Sociology, graduating Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.See Authors Posts (758) on February 12, 2008 at 10:09 AM in Current Affairs
An important op-ed in the Baltimore Sun today from Joe Wilson. Joe provides the most incisive and compelling explanation why Obama is not ready for prime time and Hillary is. Read for yourself.
By Joseph C. Wilson IV
February 12, 2008
With the emergence of Sen. John McCain as the presumptive Republican nominee, the choice for the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election now shifts to who is best positioned to beat him, in what promises to be a more hard-fought campaign - and perhaps a nastier one - than Democrats anticipated.
Sen. Barack Obama’s promise of transformation and an end of partisan politics has its seductive appeal. The Bush-Cheney era, after all, has been punctuated by smear campaigns, character assassinations and ideological fervor.
Nobody dislikes such poisonous partisanship, especially in foreign policy, more than I do. I am one of very few Foreign Service officers to have served as ambassador in the administrations of both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, yet I have spent the past four years fighting a concerted character assassination campaign orchestrated by the George W. Bush White House.
Sen. Hillary Clinton is one of the few who fully understood the stakes in that battle. Time and again, she reached out to my wife - outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson - and me to remind us that as painful as the attacks were, we simply could not allow ourselves to be driven from the public square by bullying. Mrs. Clinton knew from experience, having spent the better part of the past 20 years fighting the Republican attack machine. She is a fighter.
But will Mr. Obama fight? His brief time on the national scene gives little comfort. Consider a February 2006 exchange of letters with Mr. McCain on the subject of ethics reform. The wrathful Mr. McCain accused Mr. Obama of being “disingenuous,” to which Mr. Obama meekly replied, “The fact that you have now questioned my sincerity and my desire to put aside politics for the public interest is regrettable but does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you.”
Mr. McCain was insultingly dismissive but successful in intimidating his inexperienced colleague. Thus, in his one known face-to-face encounter with Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama failed to stand his ground.
What gives us confidence that Mr. Obama will be stronger the next time he faces Mr. McCain, a seasoned political fighter with extensive national security credentials? Even more important, what special disadvantages does Mr. Obama carry into this contest on questions of national security?
How will Mr. Obama answer Mr. McCain about his careless remark about unilaterally bombing Pakistan - perhaps blowing up an already difficult relationship with a nuclear state threatened by Islamic extremists? How will Mr. Obama respond to charges made by the Kenyan government that his campaigning activities in Kenya in support of his distant cousin running for president there made him “a stooge” and constituted interference in the politics of an important and besieged ally in the war on terror?
How will he answer charges that his desire for unstructured personal summits without preconditions with a host of America’s adversaries, from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Kim Jong Il, would be little more than premature capitulation?
Contrary to the myth of the Obama campaign, 2008 is not the year for transcendental transformation. The task for the next administration will be to repair the damage done by eight years of radical rule. And the choice for Americans is clear: four more years of corrupt Republican rule, senseless wars, evisceration of the Constitution, emptying of the national treasury - or rebuilding our government and our national reputation, piece by piece.
In order to effect practical change against a determined adversary, we do not need a would-be philosopher-king but a seasoned gladiator who understands the fight Democrats will face in the fall campaign and in governing.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again … who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.”
If he were around today, Roosevelt might be speaking of the woman in the arena. Hillary Clinton has been in that arena for a generation. She is one of the few to have defeated the attack machine that is today’s Republican Party and to have emerged stronger. She is deeply knowledgeable about governing; she made herself into a power in the Senate; she is respected by our military; and she never flinches. She has never been intimidated, not by any Republican - not even John McCain.
Barack Obama claims to represent the future, but it should be increasingly evident that he is not the man for this moment, especially with Mr. McCain’s arrival. We’ve seen a preview of that contest already. It was a TKO.
Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was in the Foreign Service for 23 years, and served in Iraq in the years leading up to the Persian Gulf war. He is the author of “The Politics of Truth.” His e-mail is jcwivwdc@yahoo.com.
Coherent, informed, factual,and right on target. It’s obvious why Valerie Plame married him. You gotta’ love an intelligent man. They must have great conversations after the twins are in bed. I copied the first article I ever read by him in the NYT-”What I didn’t find. . . .” E-mailed it to everyone I knew. A great political analyst, and he’s on Hillary’s side, thank god.
Oh Mr. Wilson! Let’s cut through the B.S. with some questions:
So has the cook in the White House. Exactly what arena has Mrs. Clinton been in where she was out in front? Was it her one year doing pro bono? Or was it her 1+ terms as Senator? Because in between that she was a private attorney and the wife of an elected official doing what all other first ladies do.
Exactly when was that? If you are referring to her waltz into office in New York then you mis-categorize how she came to office and the complete lack of competition she has faced - till now.
She has been a Senator for a little more than one term. How does that qualify her to be any more knowledgable than Obama or, frankly, the rest of us?
Name one major piece of legislation that this Senator has authored during her tenure. She has been doing nothing other than running for President since the first day she entered office and has left all the heavy lifting to Chuck Schumer.
Really? So why was bin Laden still alive when Bush entered office?
Then how would you explain all these crying episodes she has had?
Regardless how intelligent they are, both Democrats are two of the most inexperienced candidates we have ever seen from either Party and neither will stand a chance against McCain for different reasons.
Is this what is referred to as the “Republican attack machine”? If so, the “attacks” are not at all convincing, but rather as vague as those of Obama. Mean, but insubstantial.
This Clinton supporter makes assertions that are unsupported by facts. They are relevant questions because they cannot be answered.
If she is the nominee these questions will be the least of her problems.
Marjorie -
I agree with you. Pretty weak effort, but then again S.Markom is clearly in need of meds.
Meds? Hey genius anyone who buys into this woman’s BS needs to seriously examine their own sanity.
This woman has been at the center of every major Clinton Administration scandal except one.
This woman got into the Senate with no contest - not even for the nomination.
This woman has produced zero major legislation in her little time in the Senate.
This woman has never run a government or a corporation or a military battalion.
This woman is crashing in a contest with a virtual lightweight in Obama.
In a contest with a veteran like McCain and the GOP 527 groups she will completely collapse.
Reread your first sentence, and ask yourself if you’re projecting, speaking of yourself, and Obama, or Bush, say.
I do believe you are.
And I will proceed on that premise.
Great response!
So why was bin Laden still alive when Bush entered office?
The real question is why is he not dead when Bush left.
all these crying episodes she has had?
What, has our ‘Lieb Anfurer’ GW not shed a tear?
Oh yea I forgot one thing. Your heart is supply side twisted. You know the last thing to trickle down in the supply side model? The tears of poverty on the face of a parent with no food on the table for their kids or medical care.
Get real.
No. The real question is about her not flinching. Well, we already have a track record.
I heard they pay you 10 cents a post.
And it shows, geez.
With all that money, you think they could hire smarter trolls, who do more than fight themselves, without understanding how, or why.
God, they are stupid.
Most of it one can ignore.
It is not normally productive to to engage with the retorical fallacy of pinheads and individuals who thrive on emotional chaos.
Not this time.
Obamas has a lot of BULLSHIT SPEECH. HEY Mr republican!; and seems to attract a certian genus of abusive 10 cent troll.
I guess it is the result of the fear card that clones this line.
Good one!
Is SChip major enough for you?
SChip was during her husband’s administration. Her time in the Senate she has had no major legislation. As I said, Schumer is doing her work.
Oh, is that like Cheney and Addington doing all the work for that OTHER Rovian fanman, Bush?
Ok, you’re wrong actually, about SChip, imagine that.
Again, tutti.
S.Markom -
Do you really think Joe Wilson cares about your silly shit? On your planet is he reading along with you?
Hillary Rodham Clinton would kick your whiney butt all over the place. And come back for McCain’s feeble ass. I’ve made people cry and Hillary Rodham Clinton isn’t a crier.
Go talk to your T.V. while you watch Fox Fuckers and MSNBC’s He Man Women Haters Club. I’m sure they’re your good friends and send secret messages to you …
That is the most inane comment I have ever read. Congrats.
Now we know the education level of HRC supporters!
And no she would not - particularly on an intellectual level.
About Fox, as a student of HRC you should already know that she is damning MSNBC and praising Fox.
S.Markom -
Stop your crying you big baby! Your friends at Fox and MSNBC can’t get their secret messages to you!
Now we know the education level of HRC supporters!
And no she would not - particularly on an intellectual level.
What? and your a mental giant? Excuse me! for wondering what mail order university your degrees are printed from! you presumtive pinhead. Come on now, don’t shit where you sleep,there are people that post here that graduated from the school of hard knocks that have more “intellect” and heart than you S Markom …Here Kitty Kitty.
Get busy living or get busy dying S. Markom but christ sake just get.
Well, he’s speaking of himself.
So, he’s sensitive, insecure, self conscious about his intellect, is that why someone like Bill Clinton, or Hillary, intimidates him?
We already know he can’t analyze or comprehend his enemy, so how do we further capitalize on what the Rove troll, Obama troll, is telling us about himself?
See, without understanding the TRUTH, even the truth about himself, and his own actions, motivations, he simply cannot win, as he can never SEE the genesis of the real problem.
And denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
Excuse me! I have a PhD! and your educational level is?
I don’t have a PhD, and I’m still quite intelligent and well read. Yes, without peer review it isn’t the same as someone who has been scrutinized, but then again, I know some dumbass PhDs…Nellie, not included in that mix.
This appeal to intelligence and all is just more bullshit classism. I know some stupid people who are much better suited for their lives and get along much better than my most educated friends and acquaintences.
No, I personally respect him, value his written input, it’s a desert out here,, in the land of the moronic neocon, we smart people take rain where we can get it in regard to informed, intelligent opinion on Iraq, and such.
Sorry, you don’t get that.
And you know, his wife, a COVERT NCO, was outed by a fat guy, and sniveling little sidecar, Rico.
So, it helps us all to remember, when we see Joe’s name, that Valerie has yet to see justice.
So, Fired up! Ready to go!
Yo, Butterball!
Clinton put to gether a proposal for UHC, no small undertaking. It was excoriated, but it was a major policy initiative, perhaps equivalent to the New Deal, something FEW have done, even Ted Kennedy.
In addition, she was instrumental in reforming the AK educational system, again, no small undertaking, given Obama can’t even find the switch to provide heat for his tenants without directions and a 10, 000 bribe.
And Bush doesnt even what a light switch is for…
This is off the top of my head, let me research and get back to you, since you appear uninformed.
Or perhaps you have a poor memory, such bitterness, my my…
Yale legal education, policy work mentioned above, instrumental in approving legislation to reform the student loan industry while a Senator, and again experience in preparing a UHC initiative, as First Lady.
Does Obama even wipe his own ass?
College loan reform, which has a direct effect on many middle class lives, a direct effect on the future financial security of our children, and a direct effect on America’s future abilty to compete.
If a college kid is in debt, a debt he cannot escape due to usary interest rates, he will have no incentive to work, or get ahead.
He will be working for Citibank until the day he dies. How do you think this affects the economy, do you know?
I’ll break it down for you, just ask, if you cant figure it out.
Long term implication doesnt appear to be your strong suite, reasoning is inhibited.
Or simply not in your skill set.
You really dont understand the long term consequences of being led by your balls.
God knows you dont lead with your brains.
Look at the stupidity that has landed us in Iraq, and Afghanistan.
What are the implications, will they just go away?
Enjoy the moment, dude…
Disingenous piece of shit question, come back when show you can understand a problem.
I’m not aware of any crying episodes, but perhaps she was forced to look at Karl Rove’s ugly pigface while reading your sad old attempt of a poorly reasoned PR smear, showing us you arent even capable of RECOGNIZING the problem, much less evaluating and solving it.
It often brings me to tears, also.
Ya know, they just dont make them like they used to…
Dull boi, use your imagination, my goodness, no wonder this country can’t win a war.
Clinton has experience, and youth, compared to McCain.
Obama is just all stuffed with fluff, a circular moron.
Is this stuff really necessary?
Don’t ask me, ask the Rovian old guy troll.
Given your question WAS serious, yes, it is.
Do you really want another Bush, or even an Obama, too weak and fearful to fight?
My, my.
Recognize and evaluate the problem.
GH, that “stuff” came from a guy who insists that Obama was influenced to oppose invading Iraq because Nadhmi Auchi, supposedly Saddam’s “right hand man” (except that even some very well-connected former Ba’thists go “huh?! Who?!” when you mention his name) influenced him. Who knows, maybe Obama was also flying periodically to Baghdad in Auchi’s private jet in order to discuss all this directly with Saddam!
So, that’s the very least of the “stuff”.
Gee, it just occurred to me - was EVERYONE who opposed invading Iraq in bed with Nadhmi Auchi, or just Obama?
Just Obama. This is Rovian slime. Subliminally connecting him to terrorism through his Muslim heritage. Talking Points Memo has a piece this morning on what is going on.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/178330.php
Expected from Rove and the NY Sun, and not a surprise really from Clinton. But here?
Damn fine response!
Which?
Only Eleanor Roosevelt was as engaginbg a First Lady. Nice to compare her to the White House cook. Wimmin’s place in the kitchens, and all that. Granted, that position is in and of itself(WH cook0 one not to embarassed of for those who hold it and take pride in their craft. Slimin Hillary of course means sliming anyoine around her who works hard, so it’s par of the course on the back nine of hate.
As opposed to having the party apparatachiks resign ahead of Obama, and running against Alan Keyes?
Her husband’s twelve years as Governor and her own work there trying to raise standards for teachers, coupled with additional school funding.
Like Obama signing a bill into being for redeployment then adding an escape clause to it to satisfy the GOP?
Ask the Wag the Dog crowd. Gingrich blocked the effort to go after bin laden. It’s a matter of Congressional record.
…hyperbole and media spin.
Keating McCain? The man who let shrubya slime him in SC? The man who self professedly “doesn’t know much about the economy” and wants to “fight a hundred year’s war” in Iraq?
He’ll not come close to office, he was a kiss-up to Ashcroft in his own state, and the only way he gets anywhere near is another Diebold putsch. His supposed landmark was a way to codify corporate donations to candidates and put it on par with individual donations, only attaching first amendment rights to private money in the process. His co-writer for his most recent book was an Arthur Anderson holdover, an Enron accomplice.
John McCain, put a price on free speech, and claims it as his greatest accomplishment.
I was with you until this:
“Then how would you explain all these crying episodes she has had?”
All WHAT “crying episodes”? I only know of one, and she wasn’t crying. So she showed a little emotion? Big deal! If there are other “crying episodes”, then name them. And was she actually crying, or is thst just a convenient way to portray her as weak.
Oh - and by the way, crying (or just showing a bit of emotion) and being intimidated are two completely different things. Crying is NOT a sign of intimidation.
I don’t want Hillary as President, nor do I want Obama, but for heaven’s sake, isn’t there enough real stuff to point out about both of them? Why do both sides feel the have to resort to imaginary nonsense?
I am waiting for someone to show the pictures of all the manly men crying at the Sainted Ronny’s sanctification spectacle. If no one wishes to show me those pics, then can we have a replay of Bush senior purging into the laps of his hosts.
Although when republicans cry I do believe it is because they have been intimidated by their diminishing bank accounts.
Now to be semi-serious for a moment.
The dems resort to imaginary nonsense because if they used reality they would offend one or another of their current or hoped for future constituent groups.
The republicans use imaginary nonsense because their fearful imaginations make up the bulk of america’s entertainment and morality. Republican office holders do believe that most americans would become moslems at the drop of a quarter.
Inside the beltway dems believe that too but they use different dogwhistle terms. Before you decide to argue with me about dems, check out the list of dems ( and our fave Ct for Lieberman independent) who voted against the american people and against 200+ years of the constitution today.
“Republican office holders do believe that most americans would become moslems at the drop of a quarter.”
And that would be bad because…?
“Before you decide to argue with me about dems…”
Oh, don’t worry, I won’t!
PS You forgot about George I weeping copiously over his baby boy Jeb - wasn’t that last year?
And Mittens…he talked a lot about his tears. And let’s not forget George W. - he claims to “cry all the time.”
“And that would be bad because…? ” Neither good nor bad, merely the belief system of the republicans this year. A few years ago the republicans believed that all americans would become VietCong for a quarter. A few years before that the republicans believed that all americans would become communists for a quarter. ( When the quarter was actually made of silver not silver spattered zinc.)
The problem is the republican beliefs about americans is that we are for sale as cheaply as Lieberman and Regan were. I suppose it all goes back to America’s childhood. A bunch of nasty boys spliffed in the face of the king and walked away with a whole continent. The republican longing to be re-united with their old master is compounded by their fear that there just might be some nasty boys left who would spliff in the face of the current crop of thugs as not.
As a theory it also explains the republicans great dislike for the French and Spanish. Both those nations each for their own selfish reasons aided the nasty boys in kicking out the king and his minions. Bennie Arnold was the prototype republican.
The Death Of A Thousand Fisks.
The horror, the horror.
Oh yeah, riiiight. the voters really want four more years of McBush (one slightly more to the right of Bush). No republican will win the WH this election…period. Even if we nominated a parrot. The polls clearly show we don’t want “more wars, Iraq forever, permanent tax breaks for the wealthy, no national healthcare plan”, etc. What are you…on drugs? No republican will win the WH this election.
The charges of Obama’s interference in Kenya are extremely significant.
“How will Mr. Obama respond to charges made by the Kenyan government that his campaigning activities in Kenya in support of his distant cousin running for president there made him “a stooge” and constituted interference in the politics of an important and besieged ally in the war on terror?”
An Obama-Kenya connection is rarely mentioned in the press. Why? Is it a no-no for Hillary to bring this up and ask Obama to clarify these charges being brought against him? Perhaps Wilson’s article will force Obama to address any involvement of his [Obama’s] in the disasters of the Kenyan elections. How about in a debate with Hillary? Wouldn’t that be interesting.
Oh my yes, a 72 year old, mentally unbalanced, hair trigger tempered, failed bomberjock is a threat.
Extensive security credentials: Able to rob savings and loans with the Bushes, able to lose 6 jets and almost lose an Aircraft carrier during an otherwise unimpressive tour of duty, able to shop the rug bazaars of Baghdad with a full company of troops and several heli gunships overhead. The merchant who sold he and Graham the rugs was killed two days later. Able to take it full force to an 18 year old girl. Able to accept his supporters definition of Hillary as The Bitch. Able to use his Admiral father’s position to garner special treatment for himself while a POW. Unable to advance past captain even though he had famous admirals for two generations before him. Able to do a Gingrich on his wife when a wealthier model became available.
Able to shout FUCK yous at his fellow senators with even more speed and less guts than VP Cheney. Able to buy Allan Greenspan’s book, but unable to understand ecomonics. Unable during his whole existence to have spent one minute off the public dole.
Yes quiver in fear that this clown is what stands between the democratic party and retaking the white house. Shiver in your dark corners at the HUGE coattails he will have in the elections, look how many repuclican house and senate candidates he will carry to election.
I remember Joe Wilson wearing that hangman’s noose and actually bringing some shine to american diplomats back in 1991. How far the brave have fallen.
This is not about Obama and whether he stepped back from an unnecessary confrontation or not. Nor is it about private remarks from a senator to an ex-ambassador’s wife during a trying time.
It is about making out of John McCain some scary boogieman. McCain is the ultimate straw house pig of a candidate. Revel in his destruction, encourage him to lose his famous temper during the campaign, replay his Chelsea Joke and juxtapose it with Schuster’s brilliant verbal diarrhea, toss in some Derbyshire from 2001 for zest. Run that reacharound photo-op of he and GDub. Replace the Che flags with that photo, replace the Hill and Bill pics with that photo. There are two things that McCain is not, a hero and a maverick. It doesn’t take much work to puncture him and he folds like a recycled pinata. For reference restudy his brilliant South Carolina campaign of 2000. I think it is pretty well understood that I personally do not care for either of the dem’s candidates; but I will vote for either of them before I will give this “hero” anything. As they say, if he were on fire I would not piss on him to help put it out.
Oh yay! He said it perfectly.
How can this be distilled into bumpersticker ….
But these demagogue-diddled vision wankers are no more into practicalities than Rumsfeld and the neocons were.
“They will sing songs about us.”
I DON’T NEED HOPE. I NEED A ROPE
The merchant who sold he and Graham the rugs was killed two days later.
I did not know this. Did McCain or Grahm offer any condolenses? Pinheads. Did they take to the senate floor and say anything? Heartless.
No - Ignored it. Also several Americans were killed as well as over 20 people in the same Market IIRC - all within a day or so of McCain and Grahams little shooping trip.
Hillary or Obama, either would be light years more intelligent and mentally balanced than madMac. after all, Intelligence goes a long way in performing well in a job that NONE of the candidates has ever been in. stupid is as stupid does as we have seen for the last 8 years.. I would rather the candidate be a quick study instead of already having his mind made up BEFORE he or she has stepped one foot into the white house. To this point, John McCain PROMISED Americans more war ( on film) …IF he can win with that telling statement, then we as a country are too dumb to be able to vote .
Everyone is right, MCain IS more experienced,experienced at being wrong… he will continue the in the footsteps of the Bush foreign policy. the most scary and Bizarre thing is…. he is actually Proud of that fact.
jeepers!!!!!
Excellent point here; Battle-Tested. This is one of the biggest assets that Clinton has. Part of it is the bully-factor.
In spite of years of being bullied, and smash-mouth and legal attacks, what did Hillary do when faced with the torches and pitchforks? Answer - deal with it. I don’t know how to compare Barack in this area, because as far as I know, he’s never had the same trial by fire.
In the interest of fairness, what is Obama’s biggest asset? Though I’d prefer he Not be president at this point in time, if I’m honest, I do have to admint one thing. He does have a skill to persuade large groups. While this may appear superficial, it is a valid asset in a president; one that Clinton has less of.
Having connections is what experience is all about. Obama wouldn’t know who to call in the FBI,CIA, NSA DoD or State for inside info.
He doesn’t need to call them! He’s got his best pal (whom he may or may not have ever met) arch villain and Saddam right hand man, Nadhmi WHO?!!!!
It wouldn’t suprise me the kind of intel money theses folks wield can buy, and that people who travel at such an altitude have GPS markers on all the skeltons they have had a hand in creating.
Auchi’s wife also donated to him.
She was on board a shell company of his from Panama.
Contraquistadores!
Thank you for helping to wake Americans up from their Obama slumber. These are serious times and we need need a serious and proven leader — not the hope of one.
The Middle East quagmire might be the least of our worries as the year proceeds; every day brings news of further economic deterioration, and you wonder whether we might have a full-blown economic panic if one of our big banks goes down.
In any event, the foreign policy and economic challenges are severe, and experience is the key. While Obama might be up to the job, why take a chance when we have someone, HRC, who certainly is?
And based on their relative performances in the primary debates, who do you think is going to hand McCain his head in the Presidential debates?
if one of our big banks goes down.
Like the write off the banks took for the subprime meltdown x10?
For every financial institution there is a point beyond which they cannot substitute their capital for write downs. At that point the institution is bankrupt. The sheiks of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have bought what they can. Beyond a 9% investment, another law designed to protect american financial institutions kicks in.
Most of these institutions have had a two month grace period since the supposed imposition of the FASB rules regarding pricing of off the books derivatives investments for which the only value is what the institutions say the value is. That grace period is coming to and end but it will most likely be extended as often as necessary.
There being no savings to divert, the only way these bankrupt institutions can be salvaged is to either give them freshly printed money as a gift or find some way to stick the taxpayers with the bill. Giving them freshly printed money as a gift just increases the already noxious inflation the consumer is seeing in his or her weakly budget. That is why this is suddenly the year of the potato. You can subsitute potato for bread, and even for meat for a while. You might also ask the Irish how that works out as a long term response to government stupidity.
So either more fiat money and immediate inflation or raise the taxes on the soon to be unemployed and enjoy your tax funded mandatory health care.
( It is exceedingly tough to garnish the wages of the unemployed, the homeless, and the institutionalized ).
You call it the subprime meltdown and it started there. Mortgages given to folks who had no way and no chance of ever paying them back, partially this was an industry response to the threats they faced over the redlining issue, partially it was a stream of profits where the institutions knew they could privatize any profits and socialize any losses. Win win, it’s all good.
Unfortunately, those subprimes were insured by the same folks who insure municipal financing and state financing. As the monoline insurers get downgraded, the issues they insured also get downgraded and the municipalities and states have to find some way to fund any new debt at much higher rates. That is the right jab, the left hook that follows is that due to the subrpime spree, some municipalities saw housing growth skyrocket, now those houses sit there not generating any tax income. Whether one walks away, is foreclosed, or otherwise dispossessed, the taxes on the property stop flowing, the school bonds become harder to pay, teachers find that raises don’t happen. The munis are about two more monoline downgrades away from bankruptcy.
Of course any bankruptcy in munis will be paid for out of the income taxes of the unemployed.
That is the right jab, the left hook that follows and the Tyson uppercut we won’t see coming.
I read a memo that k-12 in Ca is to be cut 50% in certian areas ie no summer school for getting a leg up for failing students…bare bones. Unemployed parents; uneducated kids; the economy like paying one credit card to the next. some kinda’ hope that is. Now that they are free to wiretap at will I will start saying keywords more often.
I am trying to “see” a way out. Nope.
Well stated CK, thanks for the insights.
There are some partial ways out. None of them popular.
Dump the cornahol subsidy immediately, this will lead to food price stabilization by the end of the growing season.
1) Immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Savings approx 1Trillion a year.
2) Immediate withdrawal from all foreign bases.
Savings approx .2 trillion a year.
3) Raise the discount rate to at least the rate of inflation. probably about 8%
4) Raise the reserve requirements on the banks back to the historical 15% ( it has been allowed to fall to about 3% recently ).
This means that for every 100 dollars of deposits a bank has on its books it would have to have 15 actual dollars on hand to cover demand. Currently most banks are lucky to have 3.
5) Do away with all the taxes on corporations, treat the corporate profits the same way partnership and personal business profits are treated. The profits flow through to the owners and the owners pay tax on those profits at their marginal tax rate. Probable tax income increase 1 to 1.5 trillion dollars.
( this one would cause such a howl especially among senators … I mean ear splitting batsonar level howling).
6) Do away with DHS another 50 billion minimum saved. Put the coast guard back in the treasury where it belongs
7) Do away with all farm subsidies and all agricultural tariffs.
9) Dump NCLB immediately. Get the feds out of the local schools and get the teachers back to imparting knowledge instead of teaching to pass a test. Savings not so large in the short term but HUGE in the long run.
10) Send the governors of the federal reserve their pink slips and job applications to be greeters at Wal Mart. Turn off the printing presses. Forget to replace the governors of the Fed.
11) eliminate the double taxation on savings accounts. This would reduce the annual take from individual income taxes but increase the take derived from increased investment activity.
See all it takes is a few small steps … and none of them involve going to a competing currency policy although that would not be a bad thing either.
I do wonder about Joe Wilson’s solution to the Iraqi quamire.
What would he do to initiate stability in Iraq, and Afghanistan?
I saw him interviewed on CNN, he struck me as highly intelligent, highly informed.
And then I had to watch John Bolton.
Simon, it was the United States that initiated INSTABILITY in Iraq. What on EARTH makes anyone believe they can now reverse that and “initiate” stability? It’s like suggesting that the rapist should continue to rape and beat his victim in order to calm her down.
In part, the Soviet Union was financially broken through it’s war with Afghanistan.
Some think Asia is using Iraq and Afghanistan to break the US economy, in part.
So, it’s all connected, one problem will not be solved while the other is left to linger.
It’s confusing, scary, too, isn’t it?
“Asia is using Iraq and Afghanistan to break the US economy”
Asia made me do it?!
It looks to me as if the United States is doing it just fine all by itself.
China may have called in favors owed by former Ambassador to China GHWB.
Maybe Dubya did to cover up some of the Neil Bush scandals(probably on tape).
Maybe we did it to keep the CHinese funding our tax cuts for billionaires.
I am pretty upset that Hillary did not show up to vote on the FISA bill today. One of the most important failures of this Senate has been their total capitulation to the White House on the FISA debate. Dumping the Fourth Amendment is heinous and Clinton needed to show up a let us know what side of the defense of the Constitution she is on. By the way, I voted for CLinton in my caucus, because I thought she was telling the truth when she said her connections to telecom lobbyists would not prevent her from standing up for Americans. Was I wrong? What does she have to do that is more important than saving the Constitution?
“What does she have to do that is more important than saving the Constitution?”
Campaign for President, obviously. :o}
Harry Reid made it impossible to defeat this bill. All the senators knew it. He set it up that way from the beginning. All the moaning was fruitless when Dodd received no support and was forced to actually filibuster till they found a way around him. Didn’t matter if H and O voted or not. Republicans voted 49 - 0; dems 36-18 will the usual amount voting with the repukes to ensure Bush’s demands. they couldn’t do it with a republican controlled senate…it took Harry Reid and the chairmanship of their bought and paid for Jay Rockefeller and of course the Feinstein support. This was known from the beginning. Only the House can stop it now…but the Blue dog democrats will make sure that doesn’t happen. They support Bush/Cheney on everything. It’s “the money party”.
Graham did not show either.
18 senators with a D after their names voted for retroactive legalization of criminal behaviour.
More Better Democrats necessary.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
update III especially.
SIGH
Let us give a shout out to the following States, whose senators voted for the constitution, for the citizens, and for freedom:
Washington (11)
Vermont (3)
Rhode Island (4)
New Jersey (15)
Montana (3)
Massachusetts (12)
Illinois ( 21)
69 electoral votes for the constitution.
Are you talking about that piece of paper stuck to Bush’s heel…I thought that was toilet tissue…perhaps it is..now.
As John Kass in the Chicago Tribune wrote 2.1.08:
“Just consider those enemy tribes—the Clintonistas and the Limbaughtonians—sullen peasants on a muddy roadside, waiting for the wheels of Obama’s glittering coach to spatter their homespun garments.
The media so loves Obama that he’s transcending again, this time from a politician into a religion.”
….
“Either way, there are a few who don’t consider Obama to be inevitable. They’ll be paying close attention to the upcoming federal political corruption trial in Chicago of Obama’s personal real estate fairy, indicted political fixer Tony Rezko.”
….
Rezko is a pal of the Democratic Gov. Rod “The Unreformer” Blagojevich. Rezko became involved in the questionable purchase of Obama’s home, while under federal investigation. Every politician in Illinois—except for Obama—figured Rezko to be leprous with federal subpoenas. By dancing with Rezko, Obama impeaches his own judgment, and raises questions as to whether he has the presidential stuff.
Rezko stands accused of using his Illinois political connections to extort kickbacks and political money from investment firms seeking billions of dollars worth of state business in the investing of state pension funds.
But Republicans eager to use the trial to unearth problems about Obama should understand that if they dig deeper in the Rezko case, they will find evidence of the disaster facing the