tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post3665250558303370602..comments2024-02-24T11:50:55.413-08:00Comments on Lydia Cornell: VALERIE PLAME LIVE WEDNESDAYFans and Friends of Lydia Cornellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01512357844572930333noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-61058061886300424372007-11-09T14:01:00.000-08:002007-11-09T14:01:00.000-08:00Thanks, Bart, I did, after the judges certified th...Thanks, Bart, I did, after the judges certified the vote.<BR/><BR/>I'm lucky they werent Republicans...Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03664920037425489644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-13904336896493773152007-11-09T10:34:00.000-08:002007-11-09T10:34:00.000-08:00New thread is up. We are picketing FOX STUDIOS tod...New thread is up. <BR/><BR/>We are picketing FOX STUDIOS today.Fans and Friends of Lydia Cornellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01512357844572930333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-27160190252001768722007-11-09T03:05:00.000-08:002007-11-09T03:05:00.000-08:00Strained by extended tours in Iraq, growing number...Strained by extended tours in Iraq, growing numbers of military reservists say the government is providing little help to soldiers who are denied their old jobs when they return home, Defense Department data shows.<BR/><BR/>The Pentagon survey of reservists in 2005-2006, obtained by The Associated Press, details increasing discontent among returning troops in protecting their legal rights after taking leave from work to fight for their country.<BR/><BR/>It found that 44 percent of the reservists polled said they were dissatisfied with how the Labor Department handled their complaint of employment discrimination based on their military status, up from 27 percent from 2004.<BR/><BR/>Nearly one-third, or 29 percent, said they had difficulty getting the information they needed from government agencies charged with protecting their rights, while 77 percent reported they didn't even bother trying to get assistance in part because they didn't think it would make a difference.<BR/><BR/>"This is shameful because Iraqi bullets and bombs don't discriminate. Yet reservists face job discrimination here in America after serving in war," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense.<BR/><BR/>Legal experts say the findings might represent the tip of the iceberg. Formal complaints to the Labor Department by reservists hit nearly 1,600 in 2005 — the highest number since 1991 — not counting the thousands more cases reported each year to the Pentagon for resolution by mediation.<BR/><BR/>And a bump in complaints is likely once the Iraq war winds down and more people come home after an extended period in which employers were forced to restructure or hire new workers to cope with those on military leave, they said.<BR/><BR/>Among the survey's findings:<BR/><BR/>�About 23 percent of reservists reported they did not return to their old jobs in part because their employer did not give them prompt re-employment or their job situation changed in some way while they were on military leave.<BR/><BR/>�Twenty-nine percent of those choosing not to seek help to get their job back said it was because it was "not worth the fight." Another 23 percent said they were unsure of how to file a complaint. Others cited a lack of confidence that they could win (14 percent); fear of employer reprisal (13 percent), or other reasons (21 percent).<BR/><BR/>�Reservists reported receiving an average of 1.8 briefings about their job rights and what government resources were available. This is down slightly from the 2.0 briefings they reported getting in 2004.<BR/><BR/>"Most of the government investigators are too willing to accept the employer's explanation for a worker's dismissal," said Sam Wright, a former Labor Department attorney who helped write the 1994 discrimination law protecting reservists.<BR/><BR/>"Some of it is indifference, some of them don't understand the laws involved," Wright said. "But the investigators establish for themselves this impossibly hard standard to win a case. As a result, reservists lose out."<BR/><BR/>Does this make you feel good Bush?Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-35655485917627702032007-11-09T03:02:00.000-08:002007-11-09T03:02:00.000-08:00A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb south...A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said Thursday.<BR/><BR/>The soldier, assigned to Multi-National Division-Center, died as a result of wounds suffered Wednesday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The soldier was dismounted, walking outside a military vehicle at the time of the blast, it said.<BR/><BR/>The victim's name was withheld pending family notification.<BR/><BR/>At least 3,859 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight civilians working for the military civilians.<BR/><BR/>Are you happy now Bush?Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-90405995998183242862007-11-09T02:53:00.000-08:002007-11-09T02:53:00.000-08:00U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-da...U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>The Army and Marine Corps are under enormous strain from years of heavy ground fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, the United States has ample air and naval power to strike Iran if President Bush decided to target nuclear sites or to retaliate for alleged Iranian meddling in neighboring Iraq.<BR/><BR/>Among the possible targets, in addition to nuclear installations like the centrifuge plant at Natanz: Iran's ballistic missile sites, Republican Guard bases, and naval warfare assets that Tehran could use in a retaliatory closure of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital artery for the flow of Gulf oil.<BR/><BR/>The Navy has an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf area with about 60 fighters and other aircraft that likely would feature prominently in a bombing campaign. And a contingent of about 2,200 Marines are on a standard deployment to the Gulf region aboard ships led by the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship. Air Force fighters and bombers are available elsewhere in the Gulf area, including a variety of warplanes in Iraq and at a regional air operations center in Qatar.<BR/><BR/>But there has been no new buildup of U.S. firepower in the region. In fact there has been some shrinkage in recent months. After adding a second aircraft carrier in the Gulf early this year — a move that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said was designed to underscore U.S. long-term stakes in the region — the Navy has quietly returned to a one-carrier presence.<BR/><BR/>Talk of a possible U.S. attack on Iran has surfaced frequently this year, prompted in some cases by hard-line statements by White House officials. Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, stated on Oct. 21 that the United States would "not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," and that Iran would face "serious consequences" if it continued in that direction. Gates, on the other hand, has emphasized diplomacy.<BR/><BR/>Bush suggested on Oct. 17 that Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear arms could lead to "World War III." Yet on Wednesday, in discussing Iran at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Bush made no reference to the military option.<BR/><BR/>"The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is dangerous, and, therefore, now is the time for us to work together to diplomatically solve this problem," Bush said, adding that Sarkozy also wants a peaceful solution.<BR/><BR/>Iran's conventional military forces are generally viewed as limited, not among the strongest in the Middle East. But a leading expert on the subject, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says it would be a mistake to view the Islamic republic as a military weakling.<BR/><BR/>"Its strengths in overt conflict are more defensive than offensive, but Iran has already shown it has great capability to resist outside pressure and any form of invasion and done so under far more adverse and divisive conditions than exist in Iran today," Cordesman wrote earlier this year.<BR/><BR/>Cordesman estimates that Iran's army has an active strength of around 350,000 men.<BR/><BR/>At the moment, there are few indications of U.S. military leaders either advising offensive action against Iran or taking new steps to prepare for that possibility. Gates has repeatedly emphasized that while military action cannot be ruled out, the focus is on diplomacy and tougher economic sanctions.<BR/><BR/>Asked in late October whether war planning had been ramped up or was simply undergoing routine updates, Gates replied, "I would characterize it as routine." His description of new U.S. sanctions announced on Oct. 25 suggested they are not a harbinger of war, but an alternative.<BR/><BR/>A long-standing responsibility of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is to maintain and update what are called contingency plans for potential military action that a president might order against any conceivable foe. The secret plans, with a range of timelines and troop numbers, are based on a variety of potential scenarios — from an all-out invasion like the March 2003 march on Baghdad to less demanding missions.<BR/><BR/>Another military option for Washington would be limited, clandestine action by U.S. special operations commandos, such as Delta Force soldiers, against a small number of key nuclear installations.<BR/><BR/>The man whose responsibility it would be to design any conventional military action against Iran — and execute it if ordered by Bush — is Adm. William Fallon, the Central Command chief. He is playing down prospects of conflict, saying in a late September interview that there is too much talk of war.<BR/><BR/>"This constant drumbeat of conflict is what strikes me, which is not helpful and not useful," Fallon told Al-Jazeera television, adding that he does not expect a war against Iran. During a recent tour of the Gulf region, Fallon made a point of telling U.S. allies that Iran is not as strong as it portrays itself.<BR/><BR/>"Not militarily, economically or politically," he said.<BR/><BR/>World War III is on the Way:Courtesy of Emperor Bush.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-21260633014374686322007-11-09T02:49:00.000-08:002007-11-09T02:49:00.000-08:00Hillary Clinton had a chance to do one of two thin...Hillary Clinton had a chance to do one of two things on the Peru Free Trade Agreement. <BR/><BR/>She could announce her opposition to the proposal and score the remarkable political coup of trumping both Barack Obama and John Edwards of an important issue for grassroots Democrats -- thus all but assuring her front-runner status as the race toward the first presidential caucuses and primaries accelerates. <BR/><BR/>Or she could do what Wall Street demanded. <BR/><BR/>Clinton went with Wall Street. On the same day that a majority of House Democrats voted against the Peru FTA, the senator from New York endorsed the current economic-policy priority of the Bush administration. <BR/><BR/>In so doing, Clinton confirmed that the only thing more important to her than securing her lead in the race for the Democratic nod is keeping the likely financiers of her fall campaign happy. <BR/><BR/>In so doing, Clinton joined Illinois Senator Obama in supporting the trade deal. <BR/><BR/>That means that, among the top contenders in the Democratic contest, only former North Carolina John Edwards is standing with the majority of congressional Democrats in opposition to the Bush administration's free-trade agenda. <BR/><BR/>Had Clinton joined Edwards in opposing the Peru FTA, she would have stolen the spotlight from the candidate with whom she is competing for labor support while at the same time identifying herself as more attuned to the concerns of working Americans than Obama. <BR/><BR/>It would have been a political masterstroke. <BR/><BR/>But Clinton's far enough ahead in the polls so that she feels she can dismiss Democratic voters. And, of course, she's betting that she'll collect enough campaign money from investment bankers and multinational corporation CEOs to buy the advertising that will allow her to buy down the concerns of soon-to-be-unemployed factory workers and soon-to-be-landless farmers. <BR/><BR/>Hillary and Obama: Trading U.S Jobs To A Foreign Country.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-11640587957733222652007-11-09T02:45:00.000-08:002007-11-09T02:45:00.000-08:00The Senate confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey...The Senate confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night to replace Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office in a scandal over his handling of the Justice Department.<BR/><BR/>Mukasey was confirmed as the nation's 81st attorney general after a sharp debate over his refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.<BR/><BR/>If you think Gonzo was bad:You Aint Seen Nothing Yet.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-5424450062777733562007-11-09T02:42:00.000-08:002007-11-09T02:42:00.000-08:00Traitors?You bet...by Cindy Sheehan / November 8th...Traitors?<BR/>You bet...<BR/><BR/>by Cindy Sheehan / November 8th, 2007<BR/><BR/>“America is a nation without a distinct criminal class; with the possible exception of Congress.”<BR/>Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemens<BR/><BR/>On November 6th, Dennis Kucinich exercised a Congressional privilege and introduced his bill, H Res 333 on the House floor to impeach Vice-Criminal Richard V. Cheney. Some people question the timing of introducing the resolution on that day. Was it just motivated by the proximity to the Iowa Caucuses? Is Dennis actually concerned with our Constitution and preventing a seeming impending attack on Iran? Either way, a resolution to impeach any, or all, of BushCo has been long overdue and was supported by many of the progressive base which is clamoring for peace and accountability.<BR/><BR/>As soon as the resolution was introduced, House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (D-Md) made a motion to “table” or kill the resolution. The vote to do so was supposed to last for fifteen minutes, but lasted for over an hour as the vote, which was at first 3 to 1 to kill the resolution, started tipping the other direction as repugs started to switch their votes from the “yea” to the “nay” column (not because they are finally growing some true patriotism, but because they almost always cynically use political manipulation). From the first, the Democrats overwhelmingly voted to kill the resolution, following their treasonous leadership who are boldly asserting that parts of our Constitution dealing with impeachment; spying on Americans without warrants; and incarcerating Americans without due process or torturing human beings are no longer valid. BushCo and Pelosi/Hoyer’s Congress, Inc have rewritten the Constitution with the blood of almost 4,000 Americans and over one million innocent Iraqis.<BR/><BR/>After Hoyer’s obedient move to kill the resolution was unsuccessful, he immediately made a motion to send the bill to Congressman John Conyers’ (D-Mi) House Judiciary Committee. That motion passed with most Democrats voting “yea.” So more than likely, Dennis’ motion of today can languish in committee along with the one that he introduced straight to committee seven months ago. Yesterday Rep. Conyers’ defended the Speaker’s traitorous demolishing of the Constitution by saying: “If she (Pelosi) were to let this thing (Justice, maybe?) out of the box, considering the number of legislative issues we have pending…it could create a split that could affect our productivity for the rest of the 110th Congress.” Well, with the 110th Congress’ past “production” of pissing off Turkey and giving George billions of more dollars to continue the deadly (2007 worst year for deaths in Iraq) occupations while legitimizing George’s crimes, affecting their “productivity” might be a good thing.<BR/><BR/>Deposed House Majority Leader, Tom Delay is a criminal that used his position as Leader as a personal financial windfall for his family and his contributors. Tom Delay was forced to step down as Majority Leader as a slew of scandals rocked his office and the affects are still being felt in other members of Congress. Nancy Pelosi’s selection as Speaker was groundbreaking, and way past time, as the first female Speaker, but she has been, not only a failure but a disaster to democracy. She admitted it herself last week when she said she would give Congress low ratings, too. She acts like she is a helpless player in this national order of things. If only the world wasn’t filled with “Senators and Republicans,” then she would be able to do her job! If the world wasn’t filled with Senators, House Reps, Dems and Repugs, my son would still be alive and I would still be a working Mom in Vacaville, Ca. We often have to work or make do with a set of circumstances that are not ideal, but that should not prevent us from doing our jobs with integrity and courage. It shouldn’t prevent us from being effective, but when it comes to Congress, Inc, it mostly always does.<BR/><BR/>Even though I am once again disappointed (but not surprised) by the antics of the House of Representatives today, I have never been in favor of impeaching Darth Cheney, only. In fact, Dennis told me a few days before he introduced H Res 333 that he was going to do so. Dennis and others have argued that if we impeach George first, then Dick will be president. Well, who doesn’t believe that Dick hasn’t been president for the last nearly seven years anyway? If Dick is impeached first, then George will appoint a new V.P. that could be just as bad, if not worse, and we all know that Congress will immediately roll over and approve George’s choice (with a few token “grumbles”). I have always been in favor of impeaching them both, simultaneously, but I am not so sure anymore. If George and Dick are impeached, then someone who is as much of a tool of the corporate establishment, Nancy Pelosi would become our president for the final months of an already catastrophic failure. <BR/><BR/>The entire bunch of co-conspirators with BushCo, that some people call the “Democratic Leadership” need to be removed from their positions of power in the House. Particularly, Nancy and Steny need to make way for some leaders who will represent the progressive base and not abuse our commitment, passion, and organizations any longer.<BR/><BR/>There are a few things that we can attempt to keep Dennis’ dream (and ours) alive:<BR/><BR/>Contribute to Dennis’ presidential campaign. Yesterday, Republican candidate, Ron Paul raised over four million in one day: giving his candidacy a profound shot in the arm. Show Dennis some support and love by donating to him. He put himself in front of both sides of the aisle and that takes a certain amount of integrity and courage.<BR/><BR/>Contact Congressman John Conyers to urge him to now do his duty to investigate the charges in H Res 333 by holding hearings and actually enforcing subpoenas.<BR/><BR/>Call other members of the House Judiciary Committee.<BR/><BR/>Call Congressman Jerry Nadler whose sub-committee has been using H Res 333 as seat cushions for seven months.<BR/><BR/>Support my candidacy and other independent, progressive candidacies. If there is no good candidate in your district, run yourself, or search for one to encourage and support.<BR/><BR/>No matter how corrupt, calculating, callous and contrary Congress seems, never give up! The establishment would love for us to go away and be silent so it can continue its raping and pillaging of everything that is important to us. <BR/><BR/>We are awake now, and we must never go to sleep again.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-72432174702649468162007-11-08T23:30:00.000-08:002007-11-08T23:30:00.000-08:00GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC REPORTS: THINGS YOU'VE SUSPECT...GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC REPORTS: THINGS YOU'VE SUSPECTED BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK!" <BR/><BR/>A Series Authored by Walter J. "John" Williams <BR/><BR/>"The Consumer Price Index" (Part Four in a Series of Five) <BR/><BR/>October 1, 2006 Update <BR/><BR/>(September 22, 2004 Original) <BR/><BR/>_____<BR/><BR/>Foreword <BR/><BR/>This installment has been updated from the original 2004 version to incorporate additional research on earlier changes to the CPI. The source for most of the information in this installment is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which generally has been very open about its methodologies and changes to same. The BLS Web site: www.bls.gov contains descriptions of the CPI and its related methodologies. Other sources include my own analyses of the CPI data and methodological changes over the last 30 years as well as interviews with individuals involved in inflation reporting. ______<BR/><BR/>Payments to Social Security Recipients Should be Double Current Levels <BR/><BR/>Inflation, as reported by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is understated by roughly 7% per year. This is due to recent redefinitions of the series as well as to flawed methodologies, particularly adjustments to price measures for quality changes. The concentration of this installment on the quality of government economic reports will be first on CPI series redefinition and the damages done to those dependent on accurate cost-of-living estimates, and on pending further redefinition and economic damage. <BR/><BR/>The CPI was designed to help businesses, individuals and the government adjust their financial planning and considerations for the impact of inflation. The CPI worked reasonably well for those purposes into the early-1980s. In recent decades, however, the reporting system increasingly succumbed to pressures from miscreant politicians, who were and are intent upon stealing income from social security recipients, without ever taking the issue of reduced entitlement payments before the public or Congress for approval. <BR/><BR/>In particular, changes made in CPI methodology during the Clinton Administration understated inflation significantly, and, through a cumulative effect with earlier changes that began in the late-Carter and early Reagan Administrations have reduced current social security payments by roughly half from where they would have been otherwise. That means Social Security checks today would be about double had the various changes not been made. In like manner, anyone involved in commerce, who relies on receiving payments adjusted for the CPI, has been similarly damaged. On the other side, if you are making payments based on the CPI (i.e., the federal government), you are making out like a bandit. <BR/><BR/>In the original version of this background article, I noted that Social Security payments should 43% higher, but that was back in September 2004 and only adjusted for CPI changes that took place after 1993. The current estimate adjusts for methodology gimmicks introduced since 1980. <BR/><BR/>Elements of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) had their roots in the mid-1880s, when the Bureau of Labor, later known as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), was asked by Congress to measure the impact of new tariffs on prices. It was another three decades, however, before price indices would be combined into something resembling today's CPI, a measure used then for setting wage increases for World War I shipbuilders. Although published regularly since 1921, the CPI did not come into broad acceptance and use until after World War II, when it was included in auto union contracts as a cost-of-living adjustment for wages. <BR/><BR/>The CPI found its way not only into other union agreements, but also into most commercial contracts that required consideration of cost/price changes or inflation. The CPI also was used to adjust Social Security payments annually for changes in the cost of living, and therein lay the eventual downfall to the credibility of CPI reporting. <BR/><BR/>Let Them Eat Hamburger <BR/><BR/>In the early 1990s, press reports began surfacing as to how the CPI really was significantly overstating inflation. If only the CPI inflation rate could be reduced, it was argued, then entitlements, such as social security, would not increase as much each year, and that would help to bring the budget deficit under control. Behind this movement were financial luminaries Michael Boskin, then chief economist to the first Bush Administration, and Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. <BR/><BR/>Although the ensuing political furor killed consideration of Congressionally mandated changes in the CPI, the BLS quietly stepped forward and began changing the system, anyway, early in the Clinton Administration. <BR/><BR/>Up until the Boskin/Greenspan agendum surfaced, the CPI was measured using the costs of a fixed basket of goods, a fairly simple and straightforward concept. The identical basket of goods would be priced at prevailing market costs for each period, and the period-to-period change in the cost of that market basket represented the rate of inflation in terms of maintaining a constant standard of living. <BR/><BR/>The Boskin/Greenspan argument was that when steak got too expensive, the consumer would substitute hamburger for the steak, and that the inflation measure should reflect the costs tied to buying hamburger versus steak, instead of steak versus steak. Of course, replacing hamburger for steak in the calculations would reduce the inflation rate, but it represented the rate of inflation in terms of maintaining a declining standard of living. Cost of living was being replaced by the cost of survival. The old system told you how much you had to increase your income in order to keep buying steak. The new system promised you hamburger, and then dog food, perhaps, after that. <BR/><BR/>The Boskin/Greenspan concept violated the intent and common usage of the inflation index. The CPI was considered sacrosanct within the Department of Labor, given the number of contractual relationships that were anchored to it. The CPI was one number that never was to be revised, given its widespread usage. <BR/><BR/>Shortly after Clinton took control of the White House, however, attitudes changed. The BLS initially did not institute a new CPI measurement using a variable-basket of goods that allowed substitution of hamburger for steak, but rather tried to approximate the effect by changing the weighting of goods in the CPI fixed basket. Over a period of several years, straight arithmetic weighting of the CPI components was shifted to a geometric weighting. The Boskin/Greenspan benefit of a geometric weighting was that it automatically gave a lower weighting to CPI components that were rising in price, and a higher weighting to those items dropping in price. <BR/><BR/>Once the system had been shifted fully to geometric weighting, the net effect was to reduce reported CPI on an annual, or year-over-year basis, by 2.7% from what it would have been based on the traditional weighting methodology. The results have been dramatic. The compounding effect since the early-1990s has reduced annual cost of living adjustments in social security by more than a third. <BR/><BR/>The BLS publishes estimates of the effects of major methodological changes over time on the reported inflation rate (see the "Reporting Focus" section of the October 2005 Shadow Government Statistics newsletter -- available to the public in the Archives of www.shadowstats.com). Changes estimated by the BLS show roughly a 4% understatement in current annual CPI inflation versus what would have been reported using the original methodology. Adding the roughly 3% lost to geometric weighting -- most of which not included in the BLS estimates -- takes the current total CPI understatement to roughly 7%. <BR/><BR/>There now are three major CPI measures published by the BLS, CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) and the Chained CPI-U (C-CPI-U). The CPI-U is the popularly followed inflation measure reported in the financial media. It was introduced in 1978 as a more-broadly-based version of the then existing CPI, which was renamed CPI-W. The CPI-W is used in calculating Social Security benefits. These two series tend to move together and are based on frequent price sampling, which is supposed to yield something close to an average monthly price measure by component. <BR/><BR/>The C-CPI-U was introduced during the second Bush Administration as an alternate CPI measure. Unlike the theoretical approximation of geometric weighting to a variable, substitution-prone market basket, the C-CPI-U is a direct measure of the substitution effect. The difference in reporting is that August 2006 year-to-year inflation rates for the CPI-U and the C-CPI-U were 3.8% and 3.4%, respectively. Hence current inflation still has a 0.4% notch to be taken out of it through methodological manipulation. The C-CPI-U would not have been introduced unless there were plans to replace the current series, eventually. <BR/><BR/>Traditional inflation rates can be estimated by adding 7.0% to the CPI-U annual growth rate (3.8% +7.0% = 10.8% as of August 2006) or by adding 7.4% to the C-CPI-U rate (3.4% + 7.4% = 10.8% as of August 2006). Graphs of alternate CPI measures can be found as follows. The CPI adjusted solely for the impact of the shift to geometric weighting is shown in the graph on the home page of www.shadowstats.com. The CPI adjusted for both the geometric weighting and earlier methodological changes is shown on the Alternate Data page, which is available as a tab at the top of the home page. <BR/><BR/>Hedonic Thrills of Using Federally Mandated Gasoline Additives <BR/><BR/>Aside from the changed weighting, the average person also tends to sense higher inflation than is reported by the BLS, because of hedonics, as in hedonism. Hedonics adjusts the prices of goods for the increased pleasure the consumer derives from them. That new washing machine you bought did not cost you 20% more than it would have cost you last year, because you got an offsetting 20% increase in the pleasure you derive from pushing its new electronic control buttons instead of turning that old noisy dial, according to the BLS. <BR/><BR/>When gasoline rises 10 cents per gallon because of a federally mandated gasoline additive, the increased gasoline cost does not contribute to inflation. Instead, the 10 cents is eliminated from the CPI because of the offsetting hedonic thrills the consumer gets from breathing cleaner air. The same principle applies to federally mandated safety features in automobiles. I have not attempted to quantify the effects of questionable quality adjustments to the CPI, but they are substantial. <BR/><BR/>Then there is "intervention analysis" in the seasonal adjustment process, when a commodity, like gasoline, goes through violent price swings. Intervention analysis is done to tone down the volatility. As a result, somehow, rising gasoline prices never seem to get fully reflected in the CPI, but the declining prices sure do. <BR/><BR/>How Can So Many Financial Pundits Live Without Consuming Food and Energy? <BR/><BR/>The Pollyannas on Wall Street like to play games with the CPI, too. The concept of looking at the "core" rate of inflation-net of food and energy-was developed as a way of removing short-term (as in a month or two) volatility from inflation when energy and/or food prices turned volatile. Since food and energy account for about 23% of consumer spending (as weighted in the CPI), however, related inflation cannot be ignored for long. Nonetheless, it is common to hear financial pundits cite annual "core" inflation as a way of showing how contained inflation is. Such comments are moronic and such commentators are due the appropriate respect. <BR/><BR/>Too-Low Inflation Reporting Yields Too-High GDP Growth <BR/><BR/>As is discussed in the final installment on GDP, part of the problem with GDP reporting is the way inflation is handled. Although the CPI is not used in the GDP calculation, there are relationships with the price deflators used in converting GDP data and growth to inflation-adjusted numbers. The more inflation is understated, the higher the inflation-adjusted rate of GDP growth that gets reported.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08956882396669105125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-22796779242544288002007-11-08T22:42:00.000-08:002007-11-08T22:42:00.000-08:00Giuliani is a wannabe tough guy who is really a hi...Giuliani is a wannabe tough guy who is really a hippocritical lying doubletalking Orwellian throwback Reich Wing fascist who wants to continue GWB's treasonous war crimes as well as his unconstitutional trasformation of our country into a fascist police state.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08956882396669105125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-91239270342927260422007-11-08T22:38:00.000-08:002007-11-08T22:38:00.000-08:00Source Says Ex-Giuliani Ally Is IndictedBy PAT MIL...Source Says Ex-Giuliani Ally Is Indicted<BR/>By PAT MILTON,<BR/> <BR/>AP<BR/>Posted: 2007-11-08 22:13:21<BR/>Filed Under: Elections News, Politics News<BR/>NEW YORK (Nov. 8) - A federal grand jury has indicted Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on corruption charges, a person close to the investigation said Thursday.<BR/><BR/>Photo Gallery: A Politician and His Protege<BR/>Rick Maiman, AP<BR/>Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner and former Rudy Giuliani protege, was indicted by a federal grand jury on a host of corruption charges, said a source close to the investigation.<BR/> <BR/><BR/>The charges include mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, making false statements on a bank application, making false statements for a U.S. government position and theft of honest services, the person said.<BR/><BR/>The theft charge essentially accuses a government employee of abusing his position and defrauding the public.<BR/><BR/>The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the indictment was sealed and wasn't expected to be unsealed until Kerik's arraignment on Friday.<BR/><BR/>Several calls to Kerik's lawyer, Kenneth Breen, were not immediately returned.<BR/><BR/>Authorities have alleged that Kerik took tens of thousands of dollars in services from benefactors and never reported it as income. Earlier this year, he rejected a plea deal, and his attorney insisted he had done nothing wrong.<BR/><BR/>An indictment is the latest chapter of a downfall that began within days of Kerik's nomination in 2004 to head the Department of Homeland Security. At the time, he was billed by the former mayor as a no-nonsense, self-made lawman who helped restore calm following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.<BR/><BR/>A federal indictment of Kerik could complicate matters for Giuliani as the first presidential primaries draw near.<BR/><BR/>The ex-mayor frequently says that he made a mistake in recommending Kerik to be Homeland Security chief, but that might not be enough to avoid the political damage of a drawn-out criminal case involving his one-time protege.<BR/><BR/>During a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday, Giuliani was asked whether he still stands by Kerik. He sidestepped that question and said the issue has to be decided by the courts.<BR/><BR/>"A lot of public comment about it is inconsistent with its getting resolved in the right way in the courts," Giuliani said.<BR/><BR/>A former undercover police officer with a bodybuilder's physique and a knack for charming people in high places, Kerik has since been hit with a string of revelations about personal and professional improprieties.<BR/><BR/>His nomination was confronted with news reports about stock-option windfalls, his connections with people suspected of doing business with the mob and overlapping extramarital affairs with two women: Judith Regan, the publisher of his memoir, and a city correction officer. The liaisons reportedly occurred in an apartment near ground zero that had been set aside for rescue workers.<BR/><BR/>Kerik, 51, who married his current wife in 1998 and has two children with her, apparently became close with Regan while writing "The Lost Son," in which he described being abandoned by his prostitute mother.<BR/><BR/>Kerik rose from cop to Giuliani's correction commissioner in the late 1990s. From there, he became police commissioner and later went to work in Iraq rebuilding the country's police force.<BR/><BR/>Then came the failed Homeland Security nomination. Democrats who opposed the nomination focused on Kerik's recent windfall from exercising stock options in a stun-gun company that did business with the department. His take: $6.2 million.<BR/><BR/>Days after President Bush introduced Kerik as his nominee, Kerik announced he was withdrawing his name because of tax issues involving his former nanny. But by then, state investigators were already aware of the expensive renovations done to his Bronx apartment in 1999, including built-in cabinets and a rotunda with a marble entryway. They alleged the work was paid for by Mafia-connected builders who sought his help winning city contracts.<BR/><BR/>Giuliani was forced to testify before a state grand jury in a case that resulted in Kerik pleading guilty last year to accepting illegal gifts while on the city payroll. The plea spared Kerik jail time and preserved his new career as a security consultant, but his name was quietly removed from a downtown jail named in his honor.<BR/><BR/>The state case isn't over: Two brothers who run the construction firm have pleaded not guilty to charges they lied to the grand jury about their relationship with Kerik.<BR/><BR/>In the past 18 months, a federal grand jury took up the tax case, quizzing another parade of witnesses. They included a commercial real estate developer who picked up the $9,000-a-month tab for a luxury Upper East Side apartment that Kerik lived in around the time he left the police department in 2001.<BR/><BR/>The federal case also involved allegations that former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro tried to recruit Kerik to eavesdrop on her husband, whom she suspected of having an affair, in 2005. But authorities have indicated that no charges would arise from the encounter.<BR/><BR/>Earlier this year, Kerik had committed to work as a national security adviser in Guyana and Trinidad, but had to pull out. The president of Guyana said he did not want either country "tainted" by the corruption allegations in the U.S.<BR/><BR/>Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08956882396669105125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-19590505535205510342007-11-08T22:36:00.000-08:002007-11-08T22:36:00.000-08:00Poll ResultsDo you think his history with Bernard ...Poll Results<BR/>Do you think his history with Bernard Kerik reflects badly on Rudy Giuliani?<BR/>Yes <BR/>75% 1,114<BR/>No <BR/>25%Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08956882396669105125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-77823973453715316962007-11-08T20:11:00.000-08:002007-11-08T20:11:00.000-08:00It seems the pen is really mighter then the sword,...It seems the pen is really mighter then the sword, (or what ever torture device "Jack Bowers" has at his deposal at the moment), ..... <BR/><BR/>the writers strike,<BR/><BR/>well it has sidelined ole Jacky boy until it is settled,<BR/><BR/>no amnount of torture by him can do anything about it at all.<BR/><BR/>That about says it all.<BR/><BR/>I wonder what the fat lying drug addicted gas bag thinks about that one ........clifhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01789324243613548212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-60207205775605489592007-11-08T19:35:00.000-08:002007-11-08T19:35:00.000-08:00MCH said...So ... let's see if I have all of this ...MCH said...<BR/>So ... let's see if I have all of this straight.<BR/><BR/>Rudy Giuliani says he is the candidate most capable of preventing future terrorist attacks ...<BR/><BR/>In supporting him, Pat Robertson has said that Rudy Giuliani is the candidate most capable of preventing future terrorist attacks ...<BR/><BR/>Rudy Giuliani was the mayor when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center ...<BR/><BR/>Pat Robertson agreed with Jerry Falwell when Falwell said that our country's acceptance of homosexuality and abortion was one of the reasons we were attacked ...<BR/><BR/>Rudy Giuliani has been on the record as being pro-choice and in favor of gay rights ...<BR/><BR/>So to sum up -- Robertson feels that the person who couldnt stop the terrorist attacks last time and was partially at fault for those terrorist attacks because he's pro-choice and pro-gay rights is the most qualified person to prevent future terrorist attacks.<BR/><BR/><BR/>And they are saying the Hillary is a flip-flopper????"<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Great post man!!!!<BR/><BR/>LOL.........that sounds like something I could have written!Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08956882396669105125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-71641512592747680982007-11-08T18:58:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:58:00.000-08:00I was having an email exchange yesterday with a de...I was having an email exchange yesterday with a dear friend and successful producer who describes herself as "very anti-strike-of course as a middle child and producer, my job has always been mediator." <BR/><BR/>I'm a middle child myself, and I, too, am a pacifist-mediator at heart. So I told her "trust me when I say, no one likes or wanted a strike that I know of...except maybe one person I know who's an exec at Sony." But he's not a big fan of writers, anyway. A strike is always the last resort. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, my producer/friend's feeling was that "they should be forced to work it out -- compromise and settle the thing so people can get back to work." I couldn't agree with her more, but I kept wondering who she meant by "they?" <BR/><BR/>I hated to dash her hopes as I think this could be a long work stoppage, because I believe the studios have wanted this strike for some time now. Case in point, check out yesterday's LA Times' cover story, "Strike About to Cost Jobs," about how the studios are cleaning house of many of their TV production/development deals. "My friend," the executive at Sony I referred to, told me at a dinner party at his house in June that the studios wanted a strike, "if only to get out of many of their development deals, because it's cheaper than paying to get out of some of these expensive arrangements." The employment contract that studios have with talent has a provision (or an escape clause) known as force majeure that allows them in a crisis such as a strike to suspend and terminate deals. So they could potentially shut down a good portion of the town, where an estimated 1.3 million jobs are connected to the film industry, because it's cheaper for them than paying out their expensive production deals? My question is if these deals were so bad, why'd they make them on in the first place? <BR/><BR/>The WGA and AMPTP have been meeting since July, and the networks/studios (represented by Nick Counter of the AMPTP) have not given an inch on any of the WGA's real demands unless you count a fraction of a centimeter last weekend, days before the announced strike on Monday, Nov. 5th. To the writer's credit, their proposals are the basis of the WGA's negotiations, not the AMPTP's. Contrary to all of the hype in the media....and not to be conspiratorial, but let's face it the WGA doesn't own NBC, GE does, so if the facts aren't exactly trickling down in the fairest or most impartial light towards the writers, do you really have to wonder why? <BR/><BR/>I was heading out to a picket line when my friend and I began our exchange so I didn't have time to get into all the issues. So I did my best to address one point, specifically about the DVD/download situation. In 1985, the writers made a really bad deal with regards to video cassettes. I know we're talking DVDs now, but it's all relative. Remember 1985? Cable was in its infancy, and everyone watched 13 channels because that's really all there were to watch, and all of those channels were free! Now, I realize this shows a lack of vision on all of our parts (both writers and actors), but as everything was free and plentiful, the idea of paying to watch a video/re-run of your TV old show was not really a concept the WGA and SAG thought would take off, and then of course, movies followed suit. Clearly, we were all naive. <BR/><BR/>The deal that the writers made in 1985 meant they would get four cents for every video cassette sold. How'd they come up with four cents when the writers were getting two-and-a-half cents (out of every dollar) per airing on network TV? Well, the studios asked the writers to take a pay cut in order to grow this fledgling market. The writers as they were eager to help to expand the home video business agreed to cut their residuals on video sales by 80 percent. They agreed to this with the understanding that once home video was a thriving, profitable market, the studios would then give back what the writers had given up. Hmm...kind of remind you of the cable deal we made in the '80s?<BR/><BR/>Well, that was 22 years ago, VHS cassettes have long since given way to DVDs, and sales have soared, but the 80 percent pay cut is still in place. A DVD on average costs about $19.99, and in 2007, the writers still only get four cents. Keep in mind there wouldn't even be any DVD' to sell, be it Seinfeld or Shakespeare in Love if not for writers, and they haven't gotten a pay increase in 22 years!? What are they, teachers? <BR/><BR/>But wait the absurdity doesn't end there...let's talk about the internet, and iTunes and any download service provider that have allowed studios to digitally distribute their products more efficiently than ever (and it's easy to track too!), no manufacturing costs, no shipping costs, no need to warehouse anything (sorry, I still miss Tower Records...records, that says it all!), no physical product what so ever! And the studios want to pay the writers the same rate for these downloads as they pay for DVD residuals? That's right, a whopping four cents....despite this huge cost savings!<BR/><BR/>And the fun just doesn't stop, websites like NBC.com that I mentioned yesterday, and I've since learned about Hula's website, well, you can go on to either of them right now, and watch entire episodes of your favorite TV shows for free! (But please, don't log-on until this is all resolved. Thanks!) Even though the studios sell ads on these websites and thus, earn money off of these shows still.....they're estimated to bring in 4.6 billion dollars over the next three years, they are refusing to pay the writers any residuals at all. Now, that's fair negotiating. <BR/><BR/>And why? How can they possibly get away with this? Well, they claim that it's for promotional purposes only. Promos used to be considered a 15 or 30 second commercial to get the audience "to stay tuned for next week's exciting episode"....not next week's ENTIRE episode! And if studios have their way the 80 percent pay cut will not only apply to downloads, a 100 percent pay cut will apply to streaming video, too! And it's not only writers that are affected, but actors, directors, and anyone who relies on residuals to pay their bills, and to fund their pension and health, we're all affected. And can you imagine what will happen when TV and the internet merge and become one? Hmmm...do you think studios will be magnanimous and pay residuals based upon the current established TV rate when they can pay you the bargain basement internet rate? Come on, is that a trick question? <BR/><BR/>The deal that was made in 1985 meant that the studios would retain more than 80 percent of all gross sales of video cassettes/DVDs, and that's still the way it is! All writers, actors, directors (unless they as "stars" and can negotiate an additional percentage upfront) collectively share the remaining 20 percent and have for 22 years.<BR/><BR/>Tell me, that's fair negotiating?! I know I explained yesterday about using the word "fair" and how inappropriate of a word it is to use in the corporate world. But maybe the question, we should all ask ourselves, is any of this right? Would you ask a teacher, a bus driver or even your plumber, to live on wages based upon a pay scale established in 1985 in 2007? No, you wouldn't, and besides your plumber would walk, so why would you ask that of writers?<BR/><BR/>In solidarity and hope... still,<BR/><BR/>Susan Savage<BR/><BR/>Actress,<BR/><BR/>Screen Actors Guild<BR/><BR/>National Board memberLarryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-75549122037628459612007-11-08T18:55:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:55:00.000-08:00I never really had to fight for anything resemblin...I never really had to fight for anything resembling a noble cause or suffer under a particularly oppressive authority (unless you count my summer as a pimply stockboy stacking cases of tuna fish and soda at a supermarket. I was like Solzenitzen with a price gun).<BR/><BR/>I am a male, so I am automatically keyed into the dominant patriarchal social mechanism; I am white, so I am the beneficiary of centuries of European aggression and xenophobic imperialism; I am a Jew in America who has never encountered anti-Semitism; I make a living in my chosen field and occasionally soak my aching ego in the intoxicating, highly addictive broth of celebrity. I have known some tragedy, some difficulty. But I have a great, loving, growing family and I am, for all practical purposes, healthy.<BR/><BR/>In short, I got it good. <BR/><BR/>But it doesn't mean I can't recognize injustice when I see it. My being a lucky bastard doesn't mean I am not qualified to despise tyranny, brutality or just plain assholery. It's all around, it's societally endemic and has been for years. It started in earnest when air traffic controllers had their solar plexuses kicked in and it's continued steadily since, whittling down the little guy to krill proportions, eroding the middle class to a virtual shrivel and carving a widening chasm between those that work like dogs and those that live like kings. <BR/><BR/>And along the way, instilling the idea into new, impressionable generations that it's bloody okay. As the kids like to text: WTF???<BR/><BR/>Intelligent Design aside, our highly evolved senses can still detect danger and deception despite attempts to distract and dissuade us from trusting our guts. And those guts should be thrumming with the realization that the real war going on isn't in Eye-Rack, it's not between the East and the West or bellicose political parties or creaky religions. The real war is ultimately one of character and the difference described by those who rally round a "One for all and all for one!" banner and those who intone "Winning isn't everything---it's the only thing" while genuflecting in front of a bust of Ronald Reagan. Two arguably simplistic and divergent philosophies that function beautifully when used in appropriate circumstances.<BR/><BR/>This strike is not about elitist wannabe Shakespeares who've never worked a decent day in their lives demanding free money for sitting in front of a computer, as any silver-tongued opponent would have you think. It is about people -- artisans -- being rightfully compensated for their product, pure and simple. And the way of world, thanks to the unrepentant capitalistaholics, is to spit on that idea, to deride anything that impedes the flow of profit, that slows the rush they get when the low class, grubby resistance is crushed. It's that blatant. And it's present everywhere, not just in the writers' struggle. It's present in the auto workers' struggle in the teachers' struggle in the emergency responders' struggle in the soldiers' struggle in the taxpayers' struggle in the voters' struggle. <BR/><BR/>The struggle of the simple character of the common citizen to make a decent wage versus the dissipated character of the controller who sits in the corporate headquarters and who's forgotten the taste of the loam that forms its foundation. <BR/><BR/>It's the shiftiness of the lobbyist, whoring out his services for a hunk of the corporate pie versus the decent toiler who has to make do with the crumbs.<BR/><BR/>It's the politicians who, from on high, survey the citizenry as pitiless courtiers, survey their degraded minions.<BR/><BR/>And you know and I know the writer's strike is not about four more cents. It's about character. <BR/><BR/>And if this strike is broken, so breaks the character of a nation.<BR/><BR/>Steven WeberLarryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-11269442771230658922007-11-08T18:48:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:48:00.000-08:00I just returned from the picket lines today in fro...I just returned from the picket lines today in front of the Time-Warner center at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Since I had dragged along my kids we only marched for about an hour. Somehow Ava and Chet, 9 and 6, already understood the concept of the strike as civil disobedience. Just last week when I told them that it was too late for more Halloween candy they started chanting in unison, "We want dessert! We want dessert! We want dessert!" <BR/><BR/>I thought, therefore, that they would be more enthusiastic about marching with me. They were not. Fortunately some angel had baked piles of homemade brownies for us marchers and when my back was turned my son inhaled half a pan's worth. It was also cold today, upper 40s, but everyone in the line (except my whining kids) seemed to be in good spirits. <BR/><BR/>Finally I bribed my kids with the promise of presents from FAO Schwartz just down 59th Street if they let us protest for a few more laps.<BR/><BR/>Again today I was very proud of not only my union but the many SAG members that marched with us. I missed seeing Julianne Moore chatting with our own Nora Ephron, or Robin Williams, David Duchovny, Richard Belzer and Tamara Tunie of Law & Order SVU. However I did run into two of the actors in my play currently up at the Lincoln Center Institute there on the picket line in between performances. <BR/><BR/>Tomorrow we strike at another of the beast's bloated bellies, this time Fox. From 9-5 we're picketing News Corp. headquarters.<BR/><BR/>If you'd like to join us it's at 1211 Avenue of the Americas between 47th and 48th Streets.<BR/><BR/>Trey EllisLarryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-7950428311904415992007-11-08T18:45:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:45:00.000-08:00When I look back on the years I have worked in the...When I look back on the years I have worked in the film and television business, since beginning in 1980, there have been many obvious changes. Most of those are technological ones and those technological developments have profoundly altered the soul and the math of the business. Cable TV and then satellite, VHS and then DVD and then DVR, and now MP3. Three networks dominating everything and then those three networks dominating nothing. HBO producing original broadcasting that competed with the Big Three for audience share. David Chase giving everyone a reason to stay home on Sunday to watch TV. Who'd a thought? <BR/><BR/>In the movie business, among the biggest changes is the background, personality and capabilities of your average head of the studio, head of production and their marketing departments. I recall, through the admittedly distorted prism of time, that Mike Medavoy was the kind of old school studio boss who looked at his release schedule and decided to burn one on "the side of the angels." He had a movie and a filmmaker that he truly believed in and, inside of a slate of 20 or 15 or even 12 movies, Medavoy made one with little regard for the box office prognosis. He wanted to make a good film and believed that audiences would follow the filmmaker, and him, to the theatre. <BR/><BR/>There are no Mike Medavoys running the studios today. There are no Fred Silvermans running the networks, either, Silverman being the television-savant-as-executive, a breed that seems to have all but vanished, save for Garth Ancier, who apprenticed under Silverman. The studios are run by men and women who know very little, if anything, about how to make a good film. That is why so many studio films are so shamefully (or shamelessly) bad. These are men and women who simply do not have the recipe, although each fancies himself as a modern day Cohn, Warner or Zanuck. From what I read of Hollywood history, Zanuck had more talent for how to fit the disparate elements of filmmaking together in one finger than most of today's crowd has in their whole production department. Make no mistake, there are extraordinarily talented and capable people at the studios and networks. Ron Meyer, once the greatest talent agent of them all (he was mine, and I mean every word of that) and Brad Grey are two smart men who have had remarkable careers and yet run major studios that answer to demanding corporate parents. <BR/><BR/>The writers' strike is upon us because the writers want more of the back end and the studios claim they don't have it. If the studios don't have it, it's more their own fault than anyone else's. We are now in the fully realized age of the modern entertainment corporation, with lawyers and accountants calling nearly all of the shots. Some say the old studio system was bad. However they look more and more like the Medicis compared to what exists today. Even in independent film, so much of the product seems tired. (If I see one more Indie Icon Guy and Indie Icon Gal put one of their parents into a nursing home, while the lighting is dialed down real low to hide the cheap set design, I might cry.) <BR/><BR/>Many contributors disparaged the striking WGA on this site. I was dismayed by this. Do you honestly believe that most writers are ultimately responsible for what goes on screen, even if their name is on it? That's like saying a plumber is responsible for your taste in fixtures. Sometimes a writer is like a plumber: he installs what he is paid to install. Most writers I know have a great script in one file and a commercial one in the other. They have BILLY BUDD and PORKYS all in the same computer. Don't ever judge a writer by any screenplay that gets made. Unless you're saying something admiring about a real giant, with real power, from another time. Like Welles or Mankiewicz or Robert Towne. <BR/><BR/>Everyone in the film industry seems to be searching for the risk-free project. There is no such project. Movie-making, music, theatre and TV, even publishing...all creative enterprises that struggle to discern the taste of a mass audience are in a risky business. We need more risk-takers to make movies and produce TV. We need more Mike Medavoys. And let's hope the strike ends soon<BR/><BR/>Alec BaldwinLarryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-53323496131953245722007-11-08T18:35:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:35:00.000-08:00A federal grand jury has voted to indict former Ne...A federal grand jury has voted to indict former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on charges stemming from the acceptance of free rent and apartment renovations, tax evasion and lying on his application for the job as head of the Department of Homeland Security, two federal sources and a source involved in the defense told ABC News. <BR/><BR/>As news of the indictment spread, police in suburban White Plains, N.Y., prepared for an expected onslaught of media by setting up police barricades in front of the courthouse and a parking area for television trucks directly across from it, police officials said. And several of Kerik's closest supporters planned to spend the evening with their friend before he turned himself into the government, sources said. <BR/><BR/>The indictment caps a wide-ranging federal probe into Kerik's affairs that has spanned about a year. While it was not immediately clear what the specific charges were, the government's case as it has been presented to the grand jury has multiple components that would be reflected in a multiple count indictment. <BR/><BR/>One component stems from $165,000 worth of renovations to an apartment he owned in an upscale section of the Bronx from a contractor who had sought business with New York City. <BR/><BR/>He was convicted on charges stemming from those same renovations in a state of New York case brought by a prosecutor in the Bronx. <BR/><BR/>Another component of the case, according to federal sources and sources involved in the defense, stems from a second apartment Kerik used on East 79th Street in Manhattan's posh Upper East Side. In that instance, the rent -- for approximately two years -- was paid by a third party, Steve Witkoff, a commercial real estate developer. Witkoff is in no way implicated in any wrongdoing. <BR/><BR/>A third part of the case stems from the failure to pay taxes on imputed income stemming from the value of the rent and the renovations -- an amount estimated to be in excess of $300,000. According to sources familiar with the case, at least part of that failure to pay taxes component is linked to Kerik's 2000 federal tax return . <BR/><BR/>The government is also expected to charge that Kerik lied on a mortgage application and on his application for the job as head of the Department of Homeland Security. <BR/><BR/>Kerik's reputation took on heroic proportions in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Side by side with "America's Mayor" Rudolph Giuliani, Kerik was seen as part of the glue that held the city together and soon, owing to the support of Giuliani and a bond he had developed with President George Bush, Kerik was nominated to be "America's Police Commissioner" -- the head of the Department of Homeland Security.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-49208564292960353282007-11-08T18:16:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:16:00.000-08:00So ... let's see if I have all of this straight.Ru...So ... let's see if I have all of this straight.<BR/><BR/>Rudy Giuliani says he is the candidate most capable of preventing future terrorist attacks ...<BR/><BR/>In supporting him, Pat Robertson has said that Rudy Giuliani is the candidate most capable of preventing future terrorist attacks ...<BR/><BR/>Rudy Giuliani was the mayor when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center ...<BR/><BR/>Pat Robertson agreed with Jerry Falwell when Falwell said that our country's acceptance of homosexuality and abortion was one of the reasons we were attacked ...<BR/><BR/>Rudy Giuliani has been on the record as being pro-choice and in favor of gay rights ...<BR/><BR/>So to sum up -- Robertson feels that the person who couldnt stop the terrorist attacks last time and was partially at fault for those terrorist attacks because he's pro-choice and pro-gay rights is the most qualified person to prevent future terrorist attacks.<BR/><BR/><BR/>And they are saying the Hillary is a flip-flopper????MCHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05293449198160875144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-50706681497486997222007-11-08T18:09:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:09:00.000-08:00Opposition to the war in Iraq has reached an all-t...Opposition to the war in Iraq has reached an all-time high, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll released Thursday morning.<BR/><BR/>Support for the war in Iraq has dropped to 31 percent and the 68 percent who oppose the war is a new record.<BR/><BR/>Despite the drop in violence in Iraq, only one quarter of Americans believes the U.S. is winning the war. There has been virtually no change in the past month in the number of Americans who believe that things are going badly for the U.S. in the war in Iraq.<BR/><BR/>The public also opposes U.S. military action against Iran. Sixty-three percent oppose air strikes on Iran, while 73 percent oppose using ground troops as well as air strikes in that country.<BR/><BR/>Overall, 56 percent, of Americans are dissatisfied with progress in the war on terrorism.<BR/><BR/>The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation telephone poll of 1,024 American adults was carried out over the weekend. The sampling error for the full sample was plus-or-minus 3 percentage points; some questions were asked of a half sample of approximately 500 respondents and carry a sampling error of plus-or-minus 4.5 percentage point.<BR/><BR/>Can you hear America Pelosi?Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-24946593351242681592007-11-08T18:07:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:07:00.000-08:00Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursda...Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that economic growth will slow noticeably in coming months while surging oil costs will raise inflation pressures. But he said the economy is nowhere close to the stagflation nightmare of the 1970s and he predicted an economic rebound by mid-2008.<BR/><BR/>Doesn't he know it is at a crawl now.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-79753156580722989482007-11-08T18:04:00.000-08:002007-11-08T18:04:00.000-08:00Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote as e...Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote as early as Friday on legislation that would spend $50 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but require that President Bush start bringing troops home.<BR/><BR/>The money is about a quarter of the $196 billion requested by Bush. It would finance about four months of combat in Iraq, Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.<BR/><BR/>"This is not a blank check for the president," she said at a Capitol Hill news conference.<BR/><BR/>More fluff no substance.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283557503536810926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-3797468905181595622007-11-08T13:47:00.000-08:002007-11-08T13:47:00.000-08:00Congratulations Carl.Congratulations Carl.Meet the Worfeushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16488142527364797150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102706.post-47232462122625776542007-11-08T13:46:00.000-08:002007-11-08T13:46:00.000-08:00Looks like Carl won his slot in the weblog awards....Looks like Carl won his slot in the weblog awards.<BR/><BR/>How come Lydia's blog wasn't on there?Meet the Worfeushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16488142527364797150noreply@blogger.com