Barclays Warns that Fed's Credibility May Crumble

Telegraph.co.uk: US central bank accused of unleashing an inflation shock that will rock financial markets, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall 'below zero'.

'We're in a nasty environment,' said Tim Bond, the bank's chief equity strategist. 'There is an inflation shock underway. This is going to be very negative for financial assets. We are going into tortoise mood and are retreating into our shell. Investors will do well if they can preserve their wealth.'

Barclays Capital said in its closely-watched Global Outlook that US headline inflation would hit 5.5% by August and the Fed will have to raise interest rates six times by the end of next year to prevent a wage-spiral. If it hesitates, the bond markets will take matters into their own hands. 'This is the first test for central banks in 30 years and they have fluffed it. They have zero credibility, and the Fed is negative if that's possible. It has lost all credibility,' said Mr Bond." (via) [More]

The Penetration of Peak Oil

James Howard Kunstler - 06/23/08: "The difference between what's available and what's demanded is being felt by poor countries and poor people in richer countries. Third world nations lacking their own oil are simply dropping out of the bidding, and the lower classes in the US are having to choose between buying gasoline and velveeta."

Eugene Robinson 06.24.08 - Race in the Sunlight

WP:Since Obama has given his opponents little ammunition, they have focused on those who are close to him, beginning with his former pastor. Now some critics have turned to Obama's "feisty" wife, whose image as a tall, strong, confident black woman can perhaps be made to seem threatening to some people.

[...]

The Obama campaign made another move on this front last week when it began running a new television ad in a number of battleground states, including some, such as Georgia and North Carolina, that Republicans have long considered safe. In the ad, which is more about the candidate's character than his policies, Obama speaks of his personal history and delivers a paean to traditional American values -- while the viewer sees old family photos of his mother, who was white, and her parents, who helped raise him. [More...]

Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment

Posted on Jun 11, 2008

TruthDig:On June 9, 2008, a counterrevolution began on the floor of the House of Representatives against the gas and oil crooks who had seized control of the federal government. This counterrevolution began in the exact place which had slumbered during the all-out assault on our liberties and the Constitution itself.

I wish to draw the attention of the blog world to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s articles of impeachment presented to the House in order that two faithless public servants be removed from office for crimes against the American people. As I listened to Rep. Kucinich invoke the great engine of impeachment—he listed some 35 crimes by these two faithless officials—we heard, like great bells tolling, the voice of the Constitution itself speak out ringingly against those who had tried to destroy it."

[More...]

Frank Rich: Do Angry Clinton Women ♥ McCain?

Frank Rich, NYTimes.com: "TEN years ago John McCain had to apologize for regaling a Republican audience with a crude sexual joke about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno. Last year he had to explain why he didn’t so much as flinch when a supporter asked him on camera, “How do we beat the bitch?” But these days Mr. McCain just loves the women.

In his televised address on Barack Obama’s victory night of June 3, he dismissed Mr. Obama in a single patronizing line but devoted four fulsome sentences to praising Mrs. Clinton for “inspiring millions of women.” The McCain Web site is showcasing a new blogger who crooned of the “genuine affection” for Mrs. Clinton “here at McCain HQ” after she lost. One of the few visible women in the McCain campaign hierarchy, Carly Fiorina, has declared herself “enormously proud” of Mrs. Clinton and is barnstorming to win over Democratic women to her guy’s cause."

[More...]

NBC’s Tim Russert dead at 58

D.C. Bureau chief, ‘Meet the Press’ moderator collapsed on job

Virginia Sherwood / © NBC Universal, Inc.

View related photos

MSNBC:Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” program when he collapsed, the network said. He and his family had recently returned from Italy, where they celebrated the graduation of Russert’s son, Luke, from Boston College.

No further details were immediately available. [More...]

Iraq is now the 2nd most corrupt State on Earth

SFGate: "During the five years that the United States has occupied Iraq, the Bush administration has created a state with a number of notable features: A venal, dysfunctional government. A terrorist haven and training ground. A nation so violent and dangerous that 10 percent of the population has fled.

Add to that a new hallmark: nearly the most corrupt nation on Earth.

Only two states out of 180, Somalia and Burma, outrank Iraq in Transparency International's latest worldwide corruption index. They are tied for last place. But Iraq has plummeted through the rankings since 2004, when it was near the middle of the pack, and is now within a hair's width of crashing to the bottom." [More...]

Kucinich introduces Bush impeachment resolution

Last night, Dennis Kucinich has introduced 35 articles of Impeachment against George W Bush on the floor of the House of Representatives (via MetaFilter)

4:56"

Hillary Clinton Endorses Barack Obama, 06-07-08

30 mins.

More of the Same Dept.:McCain=Bush 3rd Term

NYTimes: A top adviser to Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that President Bush’s program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team.

In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance.

Mr. McCain believes that “neither the administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the A.C.L.U. and trial lawyers, understand were constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,” Mr. Holtz-Eakin wrote.

[I]f Mr. McCain is elected president [...] he would do everything he could to prevent terrorist attacks, “including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution.” [More...]

No More Lobbyist Contributions to the Democratic Party

HuffPo reports: It's been less than two days since he crossed the delegate threshold to become the Democratic presidential nominee and Sen. Barack Obama's mark on the party is already being felt.

On Good Morning America Thursday, ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported "the Democratic National Committee will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists, will no longer take contributions from PACs" in keeping with Obama's well-publicized policy.

UPDATE: DNC issues a statement:

"The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "Senator Obama has promised to change the way things are done in Washington and this step is a sure sign of his commitment. The American people's priorities will set the agenda in an Obama Administration, not the special interests."

More Signs of Democratic Unity

Further uniting the Democratic Party behind Barack Obama as its nominee, the New York congressional delegation this afternoon came out en masse to declare him their standard bearer and laud Hillary Clinton's planned endorsement of Obama on Saturday.

"We come here collectively to endorse the decision by our fearless leader," Representative Charlie Rangel told reporters. "We're so proud of her."

Rangel has been among Clinton's most loyal supporters, but on Wednesday he publicly called out the New York senator for not acknowledging that Obama had won the nomination. After hours of pressure from Rangel and other key backers, Clinton's campaign issued a statement Wednesday night about the Saturday endorsement event.

Rangel called Obama an "outstanding candidate."

a new start

Guys, since we've been locked-out of the amphetameme market -- 'org', blogspot, etc. -- surprising, since Cynthia Kravitz made up the word 3 years ago. I thought I'd try to make a go of renewing our group-blogging in a space in a place that won't be plagued by commercial considerations.

We've got the second half of the 2008 election-cycle ahead and it'll be easier to follow both the news and everybody's comments if we post to a properly threaded public forum.

In the coming days, I'll try to get a design started, but in the meanime, if you could reply to this message, I'll put you on the participants list for this new blog.

Victor