As Americans, we are allies with Israel. Over the weekend though my allegiance has shifted. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes that have left over 230 Palestinians dead and over 700 injured. The airstrikes were in retaliation for rockets being fired from Palestine into Israel. Those rockets have been reported to have killed one Israeli.

The United Nations has even come out and said that Israel should halt all military action immediately because of the scale of attacks. I certainly agree with the UN. Israel must stop their disproportionate use of force.

Israel Pounds Gaza for Second Day [Reuters]

UN Security Council Urges End to All Military Activities in Gaza [AFP] 

Will the Chargers win on Sunday?

If you are a Charger fan you know how tumultuous a season it has been. About half way through I was ready to jump ship and become a NY Jets fan. Well some way some how, by just hanging in there, the Chargers have a chance to make the playoffs.

Sunday, in the prime time game, the Chargers will take on the Denver Broncos for the division and a playoff spot. So cross your fingers and put that chin strap on extra tight, lets go CHARGERS!!!

Anyone remember this guy?

Well, he is the traitor John Walker Lindh. He was captured by American forces in December 2001 fighting alongside the Taliban. After being caught, he was sent back to the U.S. to faces trial for being a traitor.

Now after being in jail for seven years, his parents are asking President Bush to pardon him.

If you ask me President Bush, I say do not pardon this traitor. He recieved his twenty year sentence and should see it out.  You whole presidency was about fighting terror. John Walker Lindh has shown allegiance to the Taliban by serving in their military.  

Another thirteen years in his cell will do justice.

 Lately Governor Schwarzenegger has been barking up the budget tree so people have started to take it seriously. So yesterday, after a summer of budget woes and a few special sessions there was a plan.

Governor To Veto Budget Plan by Timm Herdt

The newspapers from Detroit said they will cut back on delivery of the paper. Now it will only be home delivered three days a week. So what I am wondering is if they are going to continue to print daily. If they do print daily, how are they expecting to sell all the undelivered copies? Maybe they are taking it back to the old days when they had paper boys saying extra extra, read all about it.

How Long Can Newspapers Continue Delivering the News? [LA TIMES]

Detroit Newspapers Confirm Plans to Limit Home Delivery [CNN]

Splashed across the front page of most newspapers today is the feds new plan to cut rates to practically zero and print more money, lots of it.

Fed Cuts It Rate To Zero-And It's Not Done Yet [LA TIMES]

U.S. Stocks Rally, Led by Banks, as Fed Cuts Rate to Record Low [Bloomberg]
 

I like the second option best, print more money. Growing up though, I was told that if you printed too much money, it would be worthless. And after the announcement, the dollar dropped against the euro to $1 = 0.7155 E. 

The first part about cutting the rate is a bit more confusing. Anyone want to help explain to all of us what cutting the rate to nearly zero will do?

Oh and to top it all off, since we are printing more money, I'll take ten million.

While in Baghdad today our President had a pair of shoes thrown at him by a reporter. The reporter says, "It is the farewell kiss, you dog."

Bush Ducks Two Shoes Hurled by Iraqi [Politico.com]

 A: So we stay addicted to oil.

Today the news media giants started speculating that Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel might have known of the Illnois Governor Rod Blagojevich's pay for play scheme.

Not even inaugurated and the President Elect is under scrutiny. Very easily this can be compared to the Valerie Plame Plame affair that the Bush administration dealt with which was linked to the Vice President, Karl Rove, and possibly the President. What happened to our change?

So last night the bailout for the Big 3 failed to pass the Senate because GOP Senators found the loan too risky. This should have meant that it was dead in the water and that the Big 3 bailout was done. Well that is unless your are George W. 

The White House is proposing taking the $15B needed from TARP. Now you may be asking what TARP is. Well TARP is the $700 billion bailout that Congress passed a few months back to rescue Wall Street. Now this is actually a good idea. Instead of giving away another $15B, we will just dole out some of the $700B to a new source. It is simple allocation of funds. Actually seems like one of the smarter policy moves on behalf of the Bush administration.

Lets see it through.

Well as most of you heard, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was doing his fair share of corruption. He was caught on wiretaps trying to make money out of appointing Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. Well what the lessons we learned:

1. If you are already under investigation, as Blagojevich was, do not commit more corruption over the telephone. Big brother is listening. Do it in person, less chance of getting caught.
2. It is politics as usual in Illinois.

**********

Also the bailout for the Big 3 worth $15 Billion is on the verge of passing. Congress is trying to create a car czar who will act as oversight and make sure the money is used properly.

Anyone remember if there was any oversight for the $700B for Freddie and Fannie?

On Sunday, HBO premiered its new show House of Saddam. It is presented as four-one-hour episodes. Yesterday was part one and two. Next weekend they will air episodes three and four. The first episode covered Saddam Hussein's rise to power. Just put it this way, he had to kill a lot of people to get to the top. The second was about war with Iran and Kuwait. It ends with the American military withdrawing to the border and Saddam's power still intact. 

In the series Saddam is adamant that his strategy was always working. Could not help but compare that to the Bush administration.

Next week should be good so try to check it out.

"Things are going to get worse before they get better"

- Barack Obama on Meet the Press: December 7 2008                                  

In String of Bad News, Omens of a Long Recession [New York Times]

Today the Jerusalem Post has reported that the Israeli Defense Force is readying to attack Iranian nuclear facilities without the support of the US. Israel is getting fed up with the Iranians and are willing to go it alone showing the seriousness of the matter. The Post did not specificy a time frame for attack and if one were even capable. 

Later in the day though the same people told Times Online(UK) that if Israel were to go it alone the attack might not be completely succesful because there are so many targets.

Looks like Iran is going to get the bomb!

So amazing how the news cycle has really slowed down after the election. Everyday for the last year or two it was all about Barack Obama and all the other presidential candidates. Kind of wierd how we got so sucked into the whole election, not necessarily a bad thing. Just that all the news now is about how bad the economy is.

I guess you can say i'm having withdrawals from election coverage. Oh no!

Anyone else experiencing this? I believe Brian Dennert had the same feeling a few weeks back. Watch out, it might be coming for you soon.

So the Big Guy up in Sacramento today announced a fiscal emergency. Oh wait, didnt he ring this bell already this year. YES! About three times. Well this time Governor Schwarzenegger hopes the outcome will be different. So with the announcement of the fiscal emergency Governor Schwarzenegger has called for another special session of the legislature.

"Without immediate action our state is headed for a fiscal disaster and that is why with more than two dozen new legislators sworn in today - I am wasting no time in calling a fiscal emergency special session," Governor Schwarzenegger.

The continuing economic crisis is not bringing in the funding that the state needs. The state deficit is projecting to be short $28 billion in the long run. Just last year the deficit was projected somewhere between $11-18 billion dollars. Again, the continuing economic crisis is making the deficit grow as the state continues its spending spree. The only real solution can be to cut spending. But again how?

I propose making cuts to education by repealing Proposition 98. Prop 98 was passed in 1988 and says that a certain percentage of the budget be allocated towards K-14. Already the system is failing and throwing money at the problem is not helping. Too much money is being thrown at education when it needs to be allocated all around. This will make students, teachers, schools, and districts evolve and have them do more with less. It is possible. Instead of having teachers complain about their low wages, they will have to teach more, and more, and more. Aren't they teachers because they want to teach, not because of the salary.

This is the first step towards actually doing something with that thing the state calls a budget. Lets budget people. 

Schwarzenneger Declares Fiscal Emergency [SF Chronicle]

Schwarzenneger Calls Fiscal Emergy in California [Bloomberg]

So today the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that we are in a recession. Well I'm not a political blogger or anything, wait um, but I could have told you we were in a recession back in January. There was something in the air throughout the whole year, maybe the low confidence in government, high gas prices, lower consumer spending, a mix of it all.

This is hardly news. Just the media restating everything we already knew.

It's Official: Recession Since Dec. '07 [CNN Money]

 It's Official: U.S. In Recession [Forbes]

If you're a Clinton fan or not you should read this article. Hillary Clinton's Test at State: How She'll Work With Obama. It really seems like she is going to have a tough challenge ahead. I wonder if she would work with Condoleeza Rice at all. Does anyone know of the relationship that Secretary of States have with each other? Either way she's going to be boot deep in it that first day.

In other news, India is still regrouping after the terrorist attacks that have killed almost 200 people and lasted 3 days. It is reported that the attackers were all young men(21-25) who were armed with machine guns, grenades, and explosives; the attack took over a year to plan; and boats were used to arrive at the city. They attacked several institutions (hotels, restaurants, and a synagogue) looking for Americans and Britons. The attackers are believed to be from Pakistan raising tension between the two countries.