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Some PA-08 Smoke And Mirrors From Tom Manion
2008-09-25 23:36:00 I had to look really hard to find something post-worthy concerning the challenger for Patrick Murphy?s U.S. House seat in PA?s 8th district, seeing as how his ?stealth? campaign is rating nary a mention in the newspapers.Despite that, he did have this to say recently in the Bucks County Courier Times concerning the financial market meltdown?Tom Manion, a Republican challenging (incumbent Rep. Patrick) Murphy in Bucks County, said: ?We held interest rates too low for too long, allowed Fannie and Freddie to give out too much credit, messed up the banking regulators and were too focused on meeting unrealistic ?affordable housing? goals. It?s a mess, and now we?re going to have to work together for a solution.This gives me an excuse to link to this landmark post by Devilstower at The Daily Kos once more that spells out chapter and verse how our markets were crippled by deregulation and investment in shadowy financial instruments such as something called a ?credit default swap? (it?s exp...
U.S. Energy Policy Is All Smoke And Mirrors
2008-05-21 07:45:00 With the price of crude oil now well above $100, how has the U.S. government responded? Well, last week Congress voted to halt the shipment of 70,000 barrels that were being sent on a daily basis to our emergency reserve of crude oil known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR. Never mind ...
By: Boom2Bust.com
Smoke and Mirrors (Cigar Aficionado)
2008-05-14 13:26:00 "Maybe because a cigar gives you a natural pause, you start to examine whatever it is you're trying to articulate and maybe somehow, for a moment, have the illusion that you're being more articulate than you are. It's not bad, the illusion being articulate!"- Armand Assante, the actor who starred in one of Mr. Media's all-time favorite films, The Mambo Kings. He is featured in the Cigar Aficionado cover story, "Hollywood's Tough Guy," by someone whose byline does not appear in the magazine or online. (Bet there's a good story lurking there, too.)
By: Mr. Media
Smoke And Mirrors At The Hearings
2008-04-09 05:07:00 Petreus giving his testimony was on CNN last night.. Instapundit has his testimony here My summary: Not all sweetness and light, but a hard slog, getting there slowly. Sounds about right. But seeing Petreus testify reminded me that straight talkers who have quiet authority and integrity tend to play well on television, but politicians who talk too much ...
Clinton Camp continues to roll out smoke and mirrors
2008-04-08 06:12:00 Don’t look at the man behind curtain. Obama can’t win. Obama is an elitist but has 1.3 million Americans donating to his campaign. Obama has won meaningless states. Hillary Clinton has won states that have electoral votes. This is the latest from the Clinton camp. I heard this on ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Clinton Camp continues to roll out smoke and mirrors", url: "http://www.whereistheoutrage.n-et/wordpress/2008/04/08/clinton--camp-continues-to-roll-out-smo-ke-and-mirrors/" });
Russia?s Economy: Smoke and mirrors
2008-02-28 20:49:00 As Vladimir Putin stands aside (sort of), how much has he to do with Russia’s booming economy?and how long can it last? … Yet the truth is that Russia’s economy began its rebound 18 months before he became president. Behind it lie three factors: a revival of private initiative, oil prices that have risen fourfold during his ...
By: 1913 Intel
Smoke and Mirrors
2008-01-25 17:41:00 So, it's finally happening - the bubble has burst and the economy is in a melt down. This comes as no surprise to many of us. Paul Krugman anticipated it in August of 2005. Well, last week Mr Greenspan warned us about the very condition his smoke and mirrors economics had created and Paul Krugman explains.Greenspan and the Bubble What he did say, after emphasizing the recent economic importance of rising house prices, was that "this vast increase in the market value of asset claims is in part the indirect result of investors accepting lower compensation for risk. Such an increase in market value is too often viewed by market participants as structural and permanent." And he warned that "history has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low-risk premiums." I believe that translates as "Beware the bursting bubble."Like everything else, the economic policy of the Bush administration has been driven by politics. The so called "recovery" has not created new wealth...
More Smoke And Mirrors
2007-11-22 14:00:00 "Cheng and Wong admitted to the panel that they raised approximately $3.5 million from roughly 150 Alberta investors, as part of thedevelopment of three real estate projects to be undertaken by Carling Development Inc. and Carling Development (BC) Ltd. None of the projectshas been completed." CNW Group"At the height of the gold rush, a gang of con men operated in Skagway underthe leadership of Soapy Smith. One of Soapy's best cons involved his "telegraph office."Recent arrivals were greeted by men who offered to send telegrams to their families for only $5.Most people did not look behind the "telegraph office" to notice that the wires ended a few yardsout." Postal Museum Like the Gold Rush in the late 1890`s Alberta's oil boom is bring con - men out of the woodwork. If you are investing then you should take care to do due diligence and get independent legal advice. Make sure your investment isn't like Soapy's telegraph wires that end a few meters behind a facade.
The Receiving End Of Sirens 'Smoke And Mirrors' Video
2007-10-24 00:00:00 The Receiving End Of Sirens are out with the video to their new single 'Smoke And Mirrors', from the Boston band's sophomore album 'The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi', out now on Triple Crown Records. Watch it below the fold.
IEDs seen as a rising threat within U.S.
2007-10-20 21:38:00 Chertoff vows to step up planning for bombs that have ravaged Iraq WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI agree that the homemade explosive devices that have wreaked havoc in Iraq pose a rising threat to the United States. But lawmakers and first responders say the Bush administration has been slow to devise ...
By: TexasFred's
Osama bin Laden Video : More Smoke and Mirrors?
2007-09-10 20:36:00 Who is the central character in the new bin Laden video? A look-alike Osama muppet or possibly a reworked version of an older image? The actual dude himself? A commentator on a blog thread said he thought at first it was a deeply tanned Dennis Kucinich wearing a false beard and a funny hat. Anything is possible.There has been speculation that in later years, Osama may have taken to using Just For Men or possibly Grecian Formula. Isn’t there something oddly contradictory about an Islamist zealot who rails against Western lifestyles and decadence, taking time out for vanity beard touch-ups ... even if it is for Jihad symbolism? The beard itself in no way resembles the stringy, gray streaked former beard. It looks frizzy and has the shoe polish look of a bad dye job. That can happen if you aren’t skilled enough to finesse your photo shopped handiwork in a convincing manner.So just visually speaking, there is everything wrong with this video. It screams “phony”.As for the audio ...
By: Aidan Maconachy
The "Surge" Without the Bush/Petraeus Smoke and Mirrors
2007-09-07 10:37:00 by Walter C. Uhler According to the latest evaluation by the highly respected defense analyst, Anthony Cordesman, "America has no good options in Iraq." That observation alone should expose the fraud behind the recent blustering in Anbar province and the subsequent lie,"We're kicking ass." by our phony Panglossian swaggerer and grossly incompetent fool, President George W. Bush. But Cordesman's message is even more worrisome, because he conditions America's last-chance options upon the ability of Iraq's leaders "to move forward to achieve a significant degree of political conciliation and compromise." [Cordesman, "America's Last Chance in Iraq: Changing US Strategy to Meet Iraq's Real Needs," (PDF) Sept. 4, 2007, p. 2] Why worrisome? Because, as Kenneth Katzman (author of a new and secret Congressional Research Service report) concludes: due to "the number and breadth of parties boycotting the cabinet, the Ir...
Iran : Smoke and Mirrors
2007-05-26 18:20:00 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has admitted that Iran is further along with its uranium enrichment program than it had foreseen. Chief ElBaradei believes it is now "too late" to force Iran to freeze its enrichment program.Iran's claim that it is only interested in the peaceful use of atomic energy is a line only believed by those who are willfully blind or complicit. The recent IAEA report made mention of diagrams in Iran's possession that demonstrate how to alter uranium so that it can be used in warheads. The release of the report by the agency was followed just hours later by an Ahmadinejad speech in which he once again threatened Israel ... "if you do not cease invasion and massacre, soon the hand of the nations of the region will rub you criminals with earth." These speeches by the Iranian President that raise the specter of nuclear annihilation, clearly indicate that maintaining the nation's air conditioning units isn't his only objective.Meanwhile the Ame...
By: Aidan Maconachy
GET READY FOR SMOKE AND MIRRORS FROM LANSING
2007-05-18 21:11:00 Newly released economic data will be spun by Lansing as good news. DON’T BELIEVE IT! Although collections will be higher than last year much of this is due to timing differences caused by when the infamous Single Business Tax (SBT) is actually collected. Not only is the temporary impact of this timing difference likely to return to trend in June, but future collections will be worse than anticipated. The reason is simple – Michigan is not creating new non-manufacturing jobs. Given the millstone of extraordinarily burdensome healthcare and pension costs schools will be forced to sacrifice more jobs on the inflexibility alter in Lansing. Not only is there NO MOVEMENT on containing healthcare and pension costs; irresponsible and (apparently) economically incompetent legislators like Andy Meisner in the House have passed legislation designed to ensure NO ALTERNATIVE cost savings measures could be pursued outside of the restrictive, expensive, and politically tainted collective barg...
Dissecting the Agloco Mystery - Smoke and Mirrors
2007-04-17 03:35:00 Ho hum, so, anybody getting a bit bored waiting for Agloco to finally release the viewbar software they’ve been so long overdue for? There hasn’t been much to say about Agloco, probably because there’s nothing much going on if you read the official Agloco blog (http://blog.agloco.com/). In their last update on ...
Smoke And Mirrors in Africa - Washington May 3rd
2007-04-05 23:13:00 Source: Africa Action “Smoke And Mirrors in Africa” Discussion Event time: 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. May 3rdRecent popular new reports about the response of Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe against political opposition have sparked condemnation from both the U.S. government and many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are often at odds. However, little attention is being ...
Shock And Awe? Or Smoke And Mirrors
2007-02-16 22:11:01 As a veteran myself, I get no pleasure from taking the position that our government is bungling this war. I know it's not what our fighting men and women want to hear; I'm sure it's not what Republicans or many fellow conservatives will ever admit; The truth is, we were promised shock and awe. After untold billions of dollars spent and thousands of American lives lost, all we got was smoke and mirrors.
Pre-Holiday Economic Smoke And Mirrors
2006-11-20 21:09:03 In case anyone out there hasn?t noticed by now, there are very few jobs that cannot be outsourced or offshored, and that is why this story about supposed wage growth is nonsense (though perhaps not for the VERY FEW jobs unaffected by these sickening trends; I?m not opposed to offshore individuals doing the same work as I do in principle, but I am when there is nothing else comparable for me to fall back on in the event that it causes me to be put out of work).And a 4 percent raise qualifies as ?brisk,? if you?re lucky enough to get that? Please.And by the way, you don?t get any attribution for this information until past the halfway point in the story, and at that point, you?re led to believe that this comes from Bushco?s Labor Department, which doesn?t even bother to keep track of jobs lost to offshoring, let alone keep track of wages in this country versus wages offshore for comparable work and professions.Stories like this are published this time of year to get people to go out a...
Shock and Awe? Or Smoke and Mirrors?
2006-10-30 00:31:00 The leadership of our country is politicizing the Iraq war in general and the lives of US soldiers in particular. Every last one of them; from the President, to the Congress, to the Senate. When the Iraq war started, there was hope that perhaps a knockout blow could be delivered even before we engaged the enemy. ... |
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