Business/Economics Links (16 June 2009)

Advertising is Good for You:
How restaurants get you to spend more


Angry Bear:
Context for Trade Deficit

Trade Deficits Resume Upward Climb


Crooks & Liars:
President Promises 600K New Jobs This Summer

Report: The Employed Are Hurting, Too. Meanwhile, Heritage Foundation Blames Unemployment Checks for Unemployment.


Dilbert:
"Dogbert the Pirate." ("That's a different business model." Hah!)

"Job Interview"

"Pretend you don't know that."

"Dogbert the CEO"


Econbrowser:
The Dollar as a Reserve Currency: Apres le Deluge

Do you see what I see? ("I'm still looking for, and still not seeing, the economic recovery that everybody is talking about.")

How Important Is China to World Growth?


Economist's View:
Chinese Manufacturers Accused of Predatory Pricing in India

"Cultural Authenticity and the Market" (This was slightly off the beaten track for Thoma, but if you have any interest in archeology, you might find this post of interest.)

Rogoff: Rebalancing the US-China Economic Relationship

Fed Watch: Rate Hike? ("Seriously, a rate hike in this environment? Or anytime before the end of 2009? At the moment, I just can't see it happening. That said, long rate are higher, and inflation expectations in some corners of the market are rising. What is going on?")

2009 Reith Lectures: Markets and Morals ("After my piece ran, The Times was flooded with scathing letters - mostly from economists (LAUGHTER), some from my own university. I utterly failed to understand the virtue of markets, they said, or the efficiencies of trade, or even the most elementary principles of economic rationality. Amidst the torrent of criticism, I did receive a sympathetic email from my old college Economics Professor. He understood the point I was trying to make, he wrote, but could he ask a small favor: would I mind not publicly revealing the identity of the person who had taught me Economics? (LAUGHTER)")


Robert Reich:
The Great Debt Scare: Why Has It Returned?


The Bonddad Blog:
Volcker on Recovery

Flow Of Funds Charts, Part I ("Consider the following charts from the Flow of Funds. Then ask yourself, will the consumer be able to lead us out of recession?")

Consumer Confidence Up

Is the Debt Binge Over?

More Signs of Bottoming

It's Looking Like a Jobless Recovery ("Right now there is no reason to hire -- and there won't be for awhile." This is not a surprise.)

International Politics Links (15 June 2009)

Almost all of the significant stories this past week in international politics focused on the Iranian election. Juan Cole wrote a number of blog posts throughout the week about that election, with the more recent posts up top. Moon of Alabama doesn't buy Dr. Cole's ideas about the election results. I hate to use this particular slogan, but "We report, you decide," seems to be appropriate in this instance. ;) There are a couple of other stories on Afghanistan, the recent Lebanon election, and North Korea.


Middle East:
Afghanistan: Northern Supply Lines Under Attack (Moon of Alabama)

Former GITMO Detainee Speaks Out! YES! I WAS TORTURED! (Crooks & Liars)

Biden: 'Real doubt' about Iran's presidential election (Crooks & Liars)

TYT: Neocons Rooting For Ahmadinejad To Win (Crooks & Liars)

Reza Aslan Takes Chris Matthews to Task for Fear Mongering on Iran's Nuclear Program (Crooks & Liars)

Clashes, Claims of Election Fraud in Iran (Informed Comment)

Terror Free Tomorrow Poll Did not Predict Ahmadinejad Win (Informed Comment)

Post-Election Demonstrations, Violence, Arrests (Informed Comment)

Class v. Culture Wars in Iranian Elections: Rejecting Charges of a North Tehran Fallacy (Informed Comment)

Stealing the Iranian Election (Informed Comment)

Rafsanjani Blasts Ahmadinejad as a Counter-Revolutionary ; Charismatic Rahnevard Attracts Crowds for her Husband Mousavi (Informed Comment)

Ahmadinejad Defends Himself on Iranian Television (Informed Comment)

Tens of Thousands Rally for Mousavi in Tehran (Informed Comment)

Some Dots You May Want To Connect (Moon of Alabama)

More on the Iran Election (Moon of Alabama)

March 14 Faction Wins in Lebanon (Informed Comment)


Asia:
North Korea: We Will Weaponize Nuclear Stockpiles (Crooks & Liars)

As Tensions Between North Korea and U.S. Rise, Clinton Hints At Weapons Interdiction (Crooks & Liars)


Other:
Joe Scarborough Blames Obama's Cairo Speech for Ayatollahs Rigging Iranian Election--But That's a Good Thing ("Joe Scarborough seems to think the ayotollahs [sic] rigged the election because Obama's Cairo speech scared them into over reaching and making sure he didn't get credit for the reformers winning in Iran, but if they did, it's a good thing in the long run for the United States. ... If they rigged the election Joe, it's likely for the same reasons the Republicans have rigged elections in the United States...to stay in power. Not because they're worried about American politics.") (Crooks & Liars)

Links for 25 May 2009

Sorry for the lack of link posts the last few days; it's been a busy weekend. Today's post is very short (due to Memorial Day back in the U.S.)

Politics:
Tom Ridge disses Limbaugh as 'too shrill,' says Cheney is out to lunch too (A glimmer of intelligence in the Republican party.)

Colin Powell on the Trouble With The Republican Party Base ("You can only do two things with a base. You can sit on it and watch the world go by, or you can build on it. I believe we should build on it.")

Empire Media ("One issue I have with the U.S. media is its complete inability to reflect on what the U.S. is actually doing when they report on foreign reactions. ... Today the Washington Post's Craig Whitlock is outraged that Spanish prosecutors and judges care about international crimes against humanity. He does not spend a second on thinking about how much of that may be really justified when one takes into account the openly admitted misdeeds of the U.S.")


Miscellaneous:
Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble (APOD has featured this photograph before, but it's still an awesome pic.)

Salt and Pepper Shakers that look like Batteries (Cool!)

384 – Does My Metro Area Look Big in this Ring Road? (Ring roads of the world.)

The Irony of Satire

Several political blogs have noted an Ohio State University study about the TV show, The Colbert Report. The study has found, in essence, that Republicans lack a sense of humor:

...we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups [liberals and conservatives] in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion. (Emphasis mine.)

Of course, the fact that Republicans do indeed lack a sense of humor was seen in the unlamented Faux News program The 1/2 Hour News Hour.

But seriously, I'm not that surprised that conservatives might find programs like The Colbert Report difficult to understand. Two years ago, I commented about a Psychology Today article, The Ideological Animal, which reported, among other things, that "...conservatives have less tolerance for ambiguity..." Is it, then, that conservatives live in an alternate reality (as Crooks & Liars suggests) or that they are unable to fully understand the world they live in?

Wanker of the Day: Texas State Representative Betty Brown

Think Progress has posted a story out of the Houston Chronicle about Texas state Representative Betty Brown (R-Terrell), who suggested to Asian-Americans that they change their names to something that is “easier for Americans to deal with.” Apparently, misanthropes like Ms. Brown can't find a more thoughtful solution to solving identification problems when Asian-Americans try to vote in elections:

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

Milady, of course, was pissed when she read the story. Personally, I'm not surprised at either the thoughtlessness of Rep. Brown for actually making the statement or her refusal to apologize for her comments, instead blaming the Democrats (naturally) for "using racial rhetoric to inflame partisan feelings against the bill."

Instead I will award Rep. Brown with my first "Wanker of the Day" award. Rep. Brown, I salute you!


Update: The Youtube video of Rep. Brown's comments is available, which I've added to this post below. The offensive comments start at the 0:30 mark:



Crooks & Liars had a good riposte to Rep. Brown's remarks:

Oy. I guess Rep. Brown should be grateful she was not facing Zbigniew Brzezinski. That might have made her look stupid.

Update #2: Rep. Brown has now apologized for her remarks. In The Dallas Morning News:

Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, said that she "apologizes for her remark in the Elections Committee on Tuesday, April 7," in a statement issued late Thursday.

She said she appreciates testimony that made legislators aware of problems faced by Asian-Americans when acquiring identification and that she understands the "diversity of Texas" and the "enrichment" that Asian-Americans have brought to the state.

...

Brown, in the statement, said the controversial quote was one sentence from a conversation dealing with the difficulty in translating names. She pointed out that she was talking about the issue of transliteration and told Ko that she wasn't asking him to change his name.

John C. Liu, a New York City Councilman who had called on Brown to apologize, said Brown's statement is "a fair first step," but doesn't go far enough, in his statement. Liu noted that Brown's comments during the exchange with Ko went well beyond the concept of transliteration.

44 Presidents in 4 Minutes

A short, interesting video where the 44 Presidents in American history are morphed one after the other. Check it out!



HT: Crooks & Liars

Peter Schiff as Cassandra

A couple blogs I read have commented about the Youtube video (below) of financial commentator Peter Schiff's predictions from 2006 and 2007 about the current financial crisis. Crooks & Liars has given a very simplistic response: "Peter Schiff was right." Yeah, of course; so? Angry Bear thinks the real problem is that the various shows Schiff has appeared on (primarily Faux News, CNBC, and Bloomberg) deal in economic propaganda:

If we do not learn to understand "crap" reporting, if we do not learn to understand story telling for selfish purpose, if we do not learn to understand that propagandizing is not solely a political tool, but more importantly an economic tool, we will not solve our's and the worlds current economic condition.

That's true, but I'm not completely convinced that the problem is that the financial news shows and networks are really propagandizing. To me, propagandizing involves deceit, either through lying by omission, providing a loaded message or, as in the case of the Bush misadministration, just plain lying. I'm not sure that the financial news shows and networks are necessarily lying per se (even Faux News, although they do so blatantly on political news); instead, these people are "religious" fanatics. They have become true believers in the Gordon Gecko mantra "Greed is good." With the American economy jimmied through debt instruments (such as bonds), not even significant economic problems in the past (e.g., the Crash of 1987, the S&L crisis of the late 80s-early 90s, or the recessions of 1990-91 or 2001-02) have caused any doubt in their minds that the system is broken. Schiff, to me, is like the woman from Greek mythology, Cassandra.

Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam of Troy, was loved by Apollo, who gave her the gift of prophecy; however, because she would not return his love, he cursed her to correctly predict the future yet never be believed:

In more modern literature, Cassandra has often served as a model for tragedy and Romance, and has given rise to the archetypal character of someone whose prophetic insight is obscured by insanity, turning their revelations into riddles or disjointed statements that are not fully comprehended until after the fact. (Wikipedia)

Schiff correctly predicted the future several years ago, beginning to warn of the structural problems in the economy (that have not been addressed yet, despite all these billions of dollars being spent in bailouts), yet, at that time, Schiff's message was largely ignored if not publicly derided. (Has Laffer ever paid Schiff the one cent bet and written a letter of apology?) The paradigm, that "Greed is good" and the idea that the American economy can survive on debt and a service economy while hollowing out the manufacturing sector, needs to be broken. Now if that paradigm is "propaganda," then I'll agree with that too.

John McCain's Epic Fail?

Don't you get the feeling that the Republicans are starting to think, "Uhh, excuse me, but could we have a second primary season?" That maybe John McCain isn't quite the standard bearer (or the campaigner) that they thought he was? That maybe they shouldn't taunt the Obama camp into taking trips overseas because he hadn't visited Iraq or Afghanistan yet?


Yeah, supermarkets are filled with voters; let's see if we can find some in aisle five!



One thing that Crooks and Liars noted is that Faux News is using video from McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, perhaps in an effort to make him look younger than he is. The video can be seen in the Daily Show clip above at the 3:24-3:31 mark.


Photo credits: Crooks & Liars (first and second)

Bush Tours America to Survey Damage Caused by His Disastrous Presidency

HT: Crooks & Liars

Bill Moyers Pwns Porter Barry of Faux News

This was classic; I love how Bill Moyers was able to both suggest to Porter Barry that he turn away from the Dark Side and set up conditions for appearing on Bill O'Reilly's show that will be next to impossible for Faux News to fulfill. The sound is rather poor, being in a crowded hall; you'll have to concentrate to hear everything. From Crooks & Liars:

At the National Conference for Media Reform, Bill O’Reilly producer Porter Barry ambushes journalist Bill Moyers and asks him why he won’t appear on The O’Reilly Factor. Moyers, a class act to the last, makes Barry look like the small and petty man he is. But the joke is on Barry, because other journalists, including Uptake correspondent Noah Kunin, who got this raw footage, turned tables on ol’ Porter and gave him a little taste of the FOX News-style ambush journalism. I don’t think he liked it much.

Kevin James, Moron

This guy, Kevin James, appears to be one of the dimmest of the dimbulbs that support the Bush administration. Truly amazing stupidity. And they asked him to be on TV??? This guy's a lawyer? Yeah, right! The following was taken from Wikipedia:

"You don't know anything. You don't know what you are talking about.”
— Chris Matthews to Kevin James

On May 15, 2008, James appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews, debating with Mark Green of Air America Radio to discuss remarks made by George W. Bush's speech to the Israeli Knesset in which the president drew a comparison between Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler in World War II with Barack Obama's expressed willingness to meet with leaders of U.S. adversaries.

After James vigorously supported Bush's comparison, Chris Matthews asked James for a "history check", asking James "What exactly did Chamberlain do wrong?" Frustrated by what Matthews perceived as James' inability to demonstrate any knowledge of the period, Matthews went on to repeat the question a total of 28 times. Finally with James' admittance of "I don't know," Matthews accused James of being a "blank slate" who didn't know anything about history. Matthews ended by telling James "When you are going to make a direct historical reference, get it straight," and then likened James to White House spokesman Dana Perino, who in an appearance on NPR's radio program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me admitted she had had no idea what the Cuban Missile Crisis was.

HT: TBogg

Update: Crooks & Liars has a rough, partial transcript of the video:

Chris: I want to do a little history check on you—what did Neville Chamberlain do wrong in 1939? What did he do wrong?

Kevin: It all goes back to appeasement. It’s the key term.

Chris: No, what did he do, tell me what he did?

Kevin: It’s the key term.

Chris: You have to answer this question. What did he do?

Kevin: It’s the same thing, it puts it all…

Chris: Well tell me what he did?

Kevin: It’s appeasement.

Chris: What did Chamberlain do wrong..

Kevin: His actions, his actions enabled, energized, legitimized

Chris: What did Chamberlain do?

Kevin: It’s the exact same thing.

Chris: No stop, Kevin. I’m not going to continue with this interview unless you answer what that thing is. What did Chamberlain do in ‘39, tell me? ‘38?

Kevin: Chris, it’s the exact same thing alright?

Chris: What did he do? What did he do!

Kevin: '38, '39 Chris what year do you want?

Chris: What did he do? I want you to answer, what did Chamberlain?

Kevin: He’s talking, He’s talking about appeasement.

Chris: What did Chamberlain do, just tell me what he did, Kevin? What did Chamberlain do that you didn’t like?

Kevin: What, what Chamberlain did? What, what, the President was talking about, you just said the President was talking about Barack. Look…

Chris: You’re making a reference to the days before our involvement in WWII. When the war in Europe began. I want you to tell me as an expert, what did Chamberlain do wrong.

Kevin: You’re not going to box me in here, Chris. President Bush was making that. I’m glad, I’m glad.

Chris: You don’t know, do you? You don’t know what Neville Chamberlain did

Kevin: Yeah, he was an appeaser, Chris….

Chris: You are BS’ing me… You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Put Some ICE in Your Hand Phones!

This is a very good idea, one that makes you say, "Why didn't I think of that?" "ICE," by the way, stands for "In Case of Emergency."

Here’s the idea:

1. put several ICE listings in your cell directory ICE-1, ICE-2, etc.
2. under each of them put the phone # of another family member or a friend who you’d want called in case of emergency.

If there is an emergency and you’re unable to communicate, first responders will (we hope: the concept is voluntary, so part of your homework, boys and girls, is to let your local officials know about it, so they can make certain police, fire and EMTs know to check the listings) check your ICE listings and then until they’re able to reach one of your emergency contacts, tell them about where you are and your condition, and ask whether you have any particular chronic conditions and/or medications that should be considered in caring for you.

HT: David Stephenson, via Crooks & Liars

Tennessee's Finest

After watching this video, it sorta makes me say to myself, "Thank God I wasn't raised in Tennessee," ya know? Parochialism at its "finest."

A)I don’t want a man that’s going to use the Koran to be sworn in as President instead of the Bible.”

Q) Where did you get this information that Barack Obama wanted to be sworn in on the Koran?

A) From one of our Church members that’s keeping up with what his comments are and you know he wouldn’t even do the Pledge of Allegiance. He refused.

HT: Crooks & Liars

"Faux News Porn" Strikes Again

I had a good laugh when I saw this screen shot from Crooks & Liars. See the sign to the left of the reporter. "Hot Babes." You think the reporter and his camera man shot this footage just anywhere and was oblivious to the girlie billboard behind them? Then you're not familiar with Faux News Porn.

Psychopathic American Politics, Giuliani-Style

Personally, I don't think I could ever vote for any Republican ever again. Not even for a dog catcher's position. Republicans have shown that they can't be trusted to run any administration. They lack American values.

And then there's Rudy Giuliani.

The Guardian has produced a video that intersperses clips from a rally for Giuliani in someone's home in Manchester, New Hampshire with clips from an interview with Giuliani's biographer, Wayne Barrett, who's ... shall we say ... less than impressed with him.

What immediately caught the attention of other people (e.g., Crooks & Liars) was a comment made by John Deady, co-chair for New Hampshire’s Veterans for Rudy:

...(Rudy Giuliani has) the knowledge and judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in current history. And that is the rise of the Muslims. And make no mistake about it, this hasn’t happened for a thousand years. These people are very, very dedicated. They’re also very smart, in their own way. And we need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people ‘til we defeat them or chase them back to their caves, or in other words, get rid of them.

While Deady's words are certainly ignorant and offensive, another man interviewed in the video comes out as saying (at the 3:15 mark of the Guardian video), "You have to say, 'Enough with this; we're going to protect what is ours. If it means we got to shoot you in the head, so be it.'"

Yeah, that's going to win hearts and minds, all right. Welcome to psychopathic American politics, Giuliani-style.

Update: According to Faux News, John Deady has resigned from the Giuliani campaign after making his Islamophobic comments:

Official Statement from Rudy Giuliani New Hampshire Chairman Wayne Semprini:

“Mr. Deady offered his resignation from his volunteer position in the campaign and I accepted his resignation.”

The Islamists are Coming

Crooks & Liars has referred to a recent Glenn Greenwald piece over at Salon about the wingnuts' fear of Islamists. Greenwald was commenting on an article by Roger Simon by Pajamas Media that is typical of the right-wing "the left must join us in resisting Islam" garbage:

I call on my friends on the Left –- straight or gay -– to help defend that real source of liberalism the Enlightenment, because if we lose and fall under religious law, there not only will be no gay marriage, there will be no women's rights, no freedom of the press, no basic human rights, not even – as in the case of Iran – any music.

Greenwald writes:

Every now and then, it is worth noting that substantial portions of the right-wing political movement in the United States -- the Pajamas Media/right-wing-blogosphere/Fox News/Michelle Malkin/Rush-Limbaugh-listener strain -- actually believe that Islamists are going to take over the U.S. and impose sharia law on all of us. And then we will have to be Muslims and "our women" will be forced into burkas and there will be no more music or gay bars or churches or blogs. This is an actual fear that they have -- not a theoretical fear but one that is pressing, urgent, at the forefront of their worldview.

And their key political beliefs -- from Iraq to Iran to executive power and surveillance theories at home -- are animated by the belief that all of this is going to happen. The Republican presidential primary is, for much of the "base," a search for who will be the toughest and strongest in protecting us from the Islamic invasion -- a term that is not figurative or symbolic, but literal: the formidable effort by Islamic radicals to invade the U.S. and take over our institutions and dismantle our government and force us to submit to Islamic rule or else be killed.

They actually think this is going to happen ("read Zawahiri's speeches about the Plan for Caliphate!!") and believe that we must do everything in our power -- without limits -- to stop it. And there are a lot of them who think this.

In his update, Greenwald further writes:

One way to look at the threat posed by Islamic radicalism (let us call it Option A) is to see it as the Epic War of Civilizations, the Existential Threat to Everything, the Gravest and Scariest Danger Ever Faced which is going to take over the U.S. and force us all to bow to Islam.

Another way to look at it (let us call this Option B) is to dismiss it entirely, to believe there is nothing wrong with Islamic radicalism, to think it should just be completely ignored because it poses no dangers of any kind.

There are, however, other options besides A and B. Therefore, to reject Option A is not to embrace Option B. [Your typical wingnut "If it ain't Christmas, it must be the Fourth of July" "logic." - JDsg]

One would have thought that logical principle too self-evident to require pointing out, but as is typically the case when one assumes that, one is proven wrong.

On a different note, is the curriculum for history classes in some American states restricted to learning about Hitler and the Nazis and 1938 and Hitler and Germany? It must be, because there are many right-wing fanatics whose entire understanding of the world is reduced in every instance to that sole historical event -- as though the world began in 1937, ended in 1945, and we just re-live that moment in time over and over and over:

Love war? You are Churchill, a noble warrior. Oppose war? You're Chamberlain, a vile appeaser. And everyone else is Hitler. That, more or less, composes the full scope of "thought" among this strain on the right.

"Why don’t you lot just grow up?"

Around the end of the first week of Ramadan this year will be my sixth anniversary of living here in Asia, insha'allah. (Scary how the time has flown by.) My original plan was just to live here for a year or two before going home. However, one thing led to another - as they usually do - and now I'm here more or less permanently. I've no plans to return to the U.S. anytime soon, but I often think about it. I've heard a couple of horror stories about people - Americans - returning back to the US after living in or even just briefly visiting other countries abroad, and I wonder what type of reception Milady and I would get if we went to the U.S. (Both of us are Muslim, of course, and Milady always wears a tudung in public.)

What follows is an excerpt from a post at Crooks and Liars where an American citizen had a layover at LAX while on a flight from London to New Zealand. The comments by the passenger named Derek are especially appropriate.

I moved from Great Britain to New Zealand last week, requiring a flight of 26 hours crammed into a big metal tube with about four hundred other brave souls, the vast majority of us packed into the Economy Class part of a 747, with the usual narrow seats, no leg rests, and poor overheated air ventilation that inevitably leads to sharing every virus on board with everyone else. I dropped at least half my on-board meals down my cleavage trying to eat with elbows pressed together, my ankles swelled to the size (and shape) of a small elephant’s, my calves were a mass of cramps, my eyes throbbed from trying to watch too many movies on a tiny screen eight inches from my nose, my back ached from trying to sleep at twisted, unnatural angles, and my throat tickled with what I knew would end up being a full blown head cold. No, long-haul flights are not fun. People take them because it’s about the only way to get where they really, really want to go. And I really, really wanted to go to New Zealand.

At least there was a chance for a small break once we’d landed in Los Angeles to change flight crews, restock the food galleys and drinks trolleys and refuel the plane, a chance to stretch our legs in the transit lounge and take a breath of fresh air. So you would think…

And you would be so wrong.

We were told to disembark with all our carry-on luggage, leaving nothing on board. Those who were flying from London to Auckland were told to line up against a wall in a corridor while those whose flights terminated at Los Angeles filed past and disappeared. And there, in a hot, cramped corridor we stood and waited. And waited. And waited. I finally couldn’t stand it, and asked where to find the ladies’ loo – to be ordered not to leave the line. (Sod that, thought I, or rather, my bladder) and I wandered up the queue to discover that we were being processed, slowly, one by one, by a single officer in a tiny booth. After a quick dash to a toilet, I made my way back down the line to where I’d left my new comrades-in-arms – Judy, a petite, smartly dressed 61-year-old Kiwi schoolteacher in London on compassionate leave going home to Auckland to see her terminally ill father, and Derek, a wiry Scots engineer with an acerbic sense of humour. ‘You bloody Yanks seem to think terrorism is something new and only ever happens to Americans,’ he groused to me. Being possibly the only bloody Yank going from London to New Zealand, I became by default the sole available representative for my fellow countrymen. ‘We’ve had the IRA and the French have the Algerians and the Spanish have ETA. Now you know what the rest of Europe’s been living with for the last few hundred years. Why don’t you lot just grow up?’ Heads around us nodded in irritated agreement.

To our relief, we were finally moved out of the corridor, all following another LAX official to what we were expecting to be the transit lounge… but to our collective dismay, we were herded into a bigger Immigration area, where all those who were not US passport holders filled out long green cards asking detailed personal information, to be handed over to US Immigration officials busy taking everyone’s fingerprints and photographs. There was some confusion about just what to do with me, as I was a US citizen, but was flying on to New Zealand. Eventually, I was given a shorter blue form to fill out. A couple of students with worried expressions – Germans, I think, judging from the language – were being led away by uniformed police who were having interpretation problems. It was a very repressive and rather frightening atmosphere.

Bear in mind here… we were all ‘non-stop’ transit passengers, due to get straight back on the same plane we’d just gotten off and fly on to Auckland, never setting foot outside the airport and onto American soil.

Judy, in her strong Kiwi accent, demanded from one of the officials standing guard around us why they needed to take our fingerprints or our photographs. ‘It’s the law,’ he mumbled, a bit shamefaced, and spouted a few disconnected bits of pre-memorized clichés about terrorism and security before stuttering to a halt and looking away. Not even the officials at the airport understood why.

The Immigration official at the booth was not so polite to her. ‘Take your glasses off,’ he demanded. I could see her stiffen, an elderly respectable schoolteacher unused to being so brusquely ordered around. ‘I beg your pardon? Why do I need to take my glasses off? What right do you have to take my fingerprints or my photograph?’

Again, came the refrain. ‘It’s the law’.

We finally were allowed, once we’d all been ‘processed’, to sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee in the transit lounge… for about fifteen minutes before they reloaded the plane. Judy looked angry and close to tears. ‘I’ve never been treated like this before,’ she said. ‘It’s all one thing when you read about it, but having to actually submit to being fingerprinted? I feel… violated. Like I’m some sort of criminal.’

Would she ever consider returning to the States, as a tourist?

Absolutely not. And the next time she flew from London to Auckland, she’d make damned sure the flight did not stop to refuel in America.

This was pretty much the general feeling of every passenger on that flight – none of them had ever intended to enter the United States; it was just a place they had to wait in transit to somewhere else. But their experience had soured them on even considering the States as a potential holiday spot to visit. It didn’t matter how cheap the US dollar got.

And they have friends and families, too. Some people don’t like it when their 61-year-old mothers are treated like potential al Qaeda terrorists.

While the rest of the world is enjoying a boom in tourism, and our own tourist industry is begging the government for a let-up on such draconian policies, the abysmal way we are treating air passengers – even those who have nothing to do with visiting America as tourists – is costing the country millions of dollars a day, our reputation as debased as our currency.

We are not becoming a police state.

We are one.

In the comments left at C&L was a piece of goods news, especially with regard to Singapore:

In the future, fly through Singapore or Hong Kong to London to avoid LAX. LAX is notorious and the experience is always universally bad. Just what nobody needs on a long transcontinental haul. Depending on the transit time through Singapore, you can get a tour of the city, go swimming at the airport, or even take a hotel room inside the air terminal.

Eclectic Videos

Yes, it's eclectic video night. Our first video tonight is Speed Painting with French Fries and Ketchup, featuring our old pal Ronald and Morgan Spurlock (h/t: Crooks & Liars; run time: 3:57)




Our other video tonight is Max Blumenthal's (The Nation) CPAC 2007: The Unauthorized Documentary. Gotta love that one "black" republican. :) (h/t: Cairogal; run time: 7:18)



Both videos are pretty funny. Check 'em out.

But Does Cheney Know?

My impression of George Bush has gone up just the tiniest fraction (not that that's saying much):

At a farewell reception at Blair House for the retiring chief of protocol, Don Ensenat, who was President Bush's Yale roommate, the president shook hands with Washington Life Magazine's Soroush Shehabi. "I'm the grandson of one of the late Shah's ministers," said Soroush, "and I simply want to say one U.S. bomb on Iran and the regime we all despise will remain in power for another 20 or 30 years and 70 million Iranians will become radicalized."

"I know," President Bush answered.

"But does Vice President Cheney know?" asked Soroush.

President Bush chuckled and walked away.

(Source; hat tip)

Winning Hearts & Minds

The following is a video and post over at Crooks & Liars that I thought was very interesting:



Keith Olbermann featured this video on his Friday broadcast and it has haunted me since.

There is so much about this that bothers me. First, the very reality that the reason the Humvee driver is driving this way is because they are afraid of an attack if they slow down. Listen at the end of the video to the disdain one troop member expresses towards a pedestrian: "...as if he hasn't got a care in the world." Because these guys are aware that every day–every assignment–could be their last. Can you imagine what the constant state of stress like that has done to our troops, especially after two, three, four tours? And now with Bush's escalation, the likelihood that their tours will be extended again. PTSD doesn't begin to cover it. And yet, the Bush Administration has made it harder to get a diagnosis of PTSD and reduced vet benefits on top of that.

And then my thoughts go to the Iraqis. Can you imagine having your country occupied by another nation and be subjected to this kind of bullying behavior every day? Watch as the Humvee runs into car after car to force them to pull to the side and narrowly misses pedestrians. Is this the liberation we promised them? Are our actions in Iraq winning their hearts and minds to the benefits of a democracy?

As Adam said in the email with the link to this clip, "Is there a clearer indication that our presence in Iraq is hurting us?"