late May

May 30, 2008—The Bush administration, owing to a court order, has released a fresh summary of federal and independent research pointing to large, and mainly harmful, impact of human-caused global warning in the US. –NYT A16

--At least 115 soldiers killed themselves, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said Thursday. NYT A11

--Twenty former US attorneys from both political parties sided with Congress and asked a federal judge to settle a subpoena fight with the White House in an inquiry into the dismissals of federal prosecutors. NYT A13

May 29, 2008.—In the past seven years, the US has dropped from 4^th to 15^th among 30 developed nations in the percentage of households that subscribe to broadband internet... WSJ A4

--Gas Prices may Send SUVs Way of Dinosaurs. WSJ D6 –like is this a hot news flash or what?

May 26, 2008—Pat Buchanan was less polite, paraphrasing the social critic Eric Hoffer: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” NEW YORKER, p. 49

--Ed Rollins: Today, if you’re not rich or Southern or born again, the chances of your being a Republican are not great.—Ibid., 51.

--Last year, writing in The New Republic, Sam Tanenhaus revealed a 1997 memo in which [William] Buckley —who had originally hired [David] Brooks at National Review on the strength of a brilliant undergraduate parody he had written of Buckley—refused to anoint him as his heir because Brooks, a Jew, is not a “believing Christian.” Ibid.,52

the leadership thing

5-28-08—President Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment, and has engaged in “self-deception” to justify his political ends, Scott McClellan, the former White House secretary, writes in a critical new memoir about his years in the West Wing. NYT A19

May 27

May 25, 2008—“I don’t lose sleep over it, because the realities are that, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station.” –Michelle Obama NYT WK 10

--this month, in case you missed it, [GWBush] told an interviewer that he had made the ultimate sacrifice of giving up golf for the war’s duration because “I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf.” WK 11

5-24/25/2008—Higher income tax payers held on to billions of dollars more in 2006 than in 2005, thanks to a tax law change. WSJ A1, B2

--May 24, 2008—After the poor reception of [deGaulle’s] speech, Right-wing leaders and representatives of the Anciens de la division Leclerc, with the trump card of the army in their hands, tell deGaulle on what grounds they will support him. DeGaulle communicates with General Massu in Germany to work out terms for army support. [96]

weekend update

5-24/25/2008—An internal probe into the trading scandal that cost Societe Generale SA $7.7 billion depicts the French bank as a chaotic workplace in which low-level trader Jerome Kervel regularly flouted rules without adequate oversight.—WSJ B3

5-22-2008—A Pentagon audit of $8.2 billion in American taxpayer money spent by the US Army on contractors in Iraq has found that almost none of the payments followed federal rules and that in some cases, contracts worth millions of dollars were paid for despite little or no record of what, if anything, was received.—WSJ A1

--Rove was subpoenaed by a House panel to testify about alleged White House meddling in the Justice Department. –WSJ A1

--Senator John McCain on Thursday rejected the endorsement of Rev. John C Hagee, a televangelist, after a watchdog group released a recording of a sermon in which Mr. Hagee said Hitler and the Holocaust had been part of God’s plan to chase the Jews from Europe and drive them the Palestine. –NYT A15

--Judging from the futures markets, shock at the gas pump is bound to get worse. Maybe

weekend update

5-24/25/2008—An internal probe into the trading scandal that cost Societe Generale SA $7.7 billion depicts the French bank as a chaotic workplace in which low-level trader Jerome Kervel regularly flouted rules without adequate oversight.—WSJ B3

5-22-2008—A Pentagon audit of $8.2 billion in American taxpayer money spent by the US Army on contractors in Iraq has found that almost none of the payments followed federal rules and that in some cases, contracts worth millions of dollars were paid for despite little or no record of what, if anything, was received.—WSJ A1

--Rove was subpoenaed by a House panel to testify about alleged White House meddling in the Justice Department. –WSJ A1

--Senator John McCain on Thursday rejected the endorsement of Rev. John C Hagee, a televangelist, after a watchdog group released a recording of a sermon in which Mr. Hagee said Hitler and the Holocaust had been part of God’s plan to chase the Jews from Europe and drive them the Palestine. –NYT A15

--Judging from the futures markets, shock at the gas pump is bound to get worse. Maybe

may 22, 2008

May 22, 2008—Fundraising by McCain and the national Republican party topped in April the total raised by Obama and the DNC. WSJ A1

--A New Orleans levee that broke during Katrina is leaking despite $22 million in repairs. –WSJA1

--Legislation that will promote “critical analysis” of scientific issues including cloning and evolution in public schools won easy passage in a state House Committee [in Louisiana] on Wednesday. WSJ A2 [Jesus, not Darwin, fixes levees....]

sell the whole d%^&U* country

May 20, 2008--In what could be the largest privatization in the US infrastructure, a group led by Abertis Ifraestructuras SA and Citigroup Inc won bidding for the 75 year lease of the Pennsylvania Turrnpike... Abertis, which has a market value of about $20 billion, operates toll roads in France and Spain as well as such infrastructure assets as airports, telecommunications systems and parking lots. The Barcelona-based company outbid two other companies... Disclosed terms ... are similar to the privatization of Chicago’s Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road. WSJ A19