MSNBC Blog: "CLINTON'S NAFTA-GATE?"

It is clear that the downright dastardly Clinton campaign was behind NAFTAgate as a way of derailing Obama's campaign leading up to the Texas and Ohio primaries:

Per the Toronto Globe and Mail, in a story that was the lead on the paper’s front page today, that call to the Canadian embassy was actually from the Clinton campaign, not Obama’s:

“Mr. [Ian] Brodie, [PM Harper’s chief of staff], during the media lockup for the Feb. 26 budget, stopped to chat with several journalists, and was surrounded by a group from CTV. The conversation turned to the pledges to renegotiate the North American free-trade agreement made by the two Democratic contenders, Mr. Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

“Mr. Brodie, apparently seeking to play down the potential impact on Canada, told the reporters the threat was not serious, and that someone from Ms. Clinton's campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing. The Canadian Press cited an unnamed source last night as saying that several people overheard the remark.

How Bad is the Mortgage Crisis Going to Get?

Paul Krugman is another leading economist who thinks things are going to get worse:

What started in subprime is likely to continue cascading into the markets and keep the economy down until 2010, economist Paul Krugman forecasts. Bottom line for homeowners: An average drop of 25%.

If the government could bail out Bear Stearns why can't they bail out the American people:

Fortune: By year-end, 15 million Americans could have mortgages worth more than the value of their homes. What happens then?

Krugman: Actually, I think home prices will fall enough for us to produce about 20 million people with negative equity. That's almost a quarter of U.S. homes. If home prices are rising, or if there's positive equity, you can refinance or sell. But if you have negative equity, you can end up being foreclosed on, and then some people will just find it to their advantage to walk away. We're probably heading for $6 trillion or $7 trillion in capital losses in housing. Some fraction of that will fall on owners of mortgages. I still think the estimates people are putting out there - $400 billion or $500 billion in losses - are too low. I think there'll be $1 trillion of losses on mortgage-backed securities showing up somewhere.

What if it isn't enough:

Not since the 1930s. They didn't have the Fed funds target rate back then, but effectively we had a zero-interest-rate policy for a good part of the '30s. If the Fed responds this time with as much cutting as it did in the last two recessions, we get to zero. And then the problem is, What if that isn't enough? And there's a pretty good chance it won't be.

But what about the government stimulus plan:

I wasn't happy with it. Most of the money is given to people who are not much inclined to spend it, people who are not in financial difficulty. And therefore they will just put it in the bank or pay down credit card debt. I've been trying to make the case that since this thing is going to go on for a long time, effectiveness is more crucial than speed. I'm actually for public investment now - repairing bridges, building infrastructure. Normally people say if you try to do any public investment to stimulate the economy, the recession will be over before it can come online. But I don't think that's a problem this time.

- Read the entire article...

Greenspan: Economy Worst Since WWII

It is clear at this point that we are in a full fledged crisis. Unfortunately we are still acting as if this were just a typical temporary downturn in the economy, as the President is arguing. There are some prominent persons whom are responsible enough to tell the truth. Will it be enough? Are we in denial? Has anyone heard from the Presidential candidates lately on the crisis?:

Today's economic condition could likely be seen as "the most wrenching since the end of the second world war," wrote former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan in the Financial Times on Monday.

The U.S. financial crisis won't end until housing prices stabilize, but that won't happen for months, wrote Greenspan.

The models used by the finance industry to determine risk and measure economic strength are too simple to fully account for human responses, he said. "We cannot hope to anticipate the specifics of future crises with any degree of confidence," he wrote.

Many Voting for Clinton to Boost GOP

Just another reason not to vote for Hillary Clinton:

For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.

[...]Spurred by conservative talk radio, GOP voters who say they would never back Clinton in a general election are voting for her now for strategic reasons: Some want to prolong her bitter nomination battle with Barack Obama, others believe she would be easier to beat than Obama in the fall, or they simply want to register objections to Obama.

Millions of Iraqis Lack Water, Healthcare: Red Cross

Just another reason why the surge failed and why we should get out. And guess who gets blamed for this failure. Our troops do:

Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.

In a sober report marking the anniversary of the 2003 start of the war, which ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and unleashed deep sectarian tensions, the humanitarian body said Iraqi hospitals lack beds, drugs, and medical staff.

Some areas of the country of 27 million people have no functioning water and sanitation facilities, and the poor public water supply has forced some families to use at least a third of their average $150 monthly income buying clean drinking water.

"Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the humanitarian situation in most of the country remains among the most critical in the world," the ICRC said, describing Iraq's health care system as "now in worse shape than ever."

John McLaughlin: Prostitution Good Thing, Should be Legal

Here is the former Jesuit priest and Conservative host of The McLaughlin Group making arguments for the legalization of prostitution. He even insists that it will save marriages.

Meet The Press Transcript 3-16-08

Read the Meet The Press Transcript for 3-16-08

Huh?! Typical Clintonista logic:

MR. RUSSERT: The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll asked Democrats if a candidate loses among pledged delegates but wins the nomination by getting superdelegates, would it be legitimate nomination? Nearly four in 10 Democrats said it would not be legitimate if a candidate won the nomination on superdelegates after losing pledged delegates.[Representaive Nita Lowey][...]if, in fact, those people believe that they should abide by the wish of the pledged delegates, I would hope Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry would vote for Clinton because look what happened in Massachusetts.

Speaking of Clinton logic:

(Videotape)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY): If you're a voter from Florida or Michigan, you know that we should count your votes. The results of those primaries were fair, and they should be honored.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: But back in October, Senator Clinton said this about Michigan: "You know, it's clear, this election they're having in Michigan is not going to count for anything."

I think former Senator Bradley is saying Hillary has something to hide:

(Videotape, March 5, 2008)

SEN. BRADLEY: I think Barack Obama has a much stronger chance of beating John McCain in the general election. I think Hillary is flawed in many ways and particularly if you look at her husband's unwillingness to release the names of the people who contributed to his presidential library. And the reason that is important, are there favors attached to $500,000 or million dollar contributions? And what do I mean by favors? I mean pardons that are granted, investigations that are squelched, contracts that are awarded, regulations that are delayed. These are important questions. The people deserve to know. And we deserve, as Democrats, to know before a nominee is selected because we don't want things to explode in a general election against John McCain.

(End videotape)

Answer the question...Nita:

MR. RUSSERT: Well, to the specific then--if the tax returns were income, but the $500 million he's raised for his foundation library, should those donors be made public?

REP. LOWEY: I do believe that, at the right time, they will be made public. Let me just say one other thing that I think is very important.

MR. RUSSERT: But at the right, should it be before the primary season is over?

REP. LOWEY: I do believe that we have to have a really constructive debate, a constructive discussion. You know, the kind of information that we're releasing, it reminds me, with all due respect, Senator Bradley, of--with the Bradley-Gore primary. And, and if we don't keep this positive, all we're doing is providing fodder for the McCain-Democrat race that will take place later on. This should be a real discussion of what we're going to be doing for the economy, what we're going to be doing for food prices, gas prices, what we're going to do about the housing/energy crisis. And I do think there is more information, and Clintons have been vetted certainly more than Senator Obama.

That doesn't answer the question.

Athletes Considering Beijing Boycott: IOC Official

This would be enormously courageous. They would be leading by example and hopefully shaming the world into action. I am pessimistic since the whoring politicians in the West will continue to remain silent. Also, the media will move on to other stories, as long as no videos come out of Tibet:

International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Thomas Bach says a number of top athletes are considering boycotting the games in China over the bloody crackdown on protesters in Tibet.

"Several sports stars are feeling ill at ease when they think about the Olympic Games. Some are even considering cancelling," Mr Bach, of Germany, told Sunday's edition of the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

And will the UN investigate the atrocities being committed by the Chinese government. Once again, I am pessimistic that will be done:

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama - the public voice of a region now largely sealed off from the rest of the world - called Sunday for an international investigation into the crackdown against protesters in his homeland, which he said is facing a "cultural genocide."

"Some respected international organization can find out what the situation is in Tibet and what is the cause," he told reporters in Dharmsala, the Indian hill town where his government-in-exile has been based since he fled Tibet in the wake of a failed uprising in the late 1950s. "Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place."

Pope: Enough With Slaughters in Iraq

Amen:

Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul.

The pope also denounced the 5-year-long Iraq war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life.

"Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!" Benedict said to applause at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.

[...] Benedict said Rahho's dedication to the Catholic Church and his death compelled him to "raise a strong and sorrowful cry" to denounce the violence in Iraq spawned by the war that began five years ago this week.

"At the same time, I make an appeal to the Iraqi people, who for the past five years have borne the consequences of a war that provoked the breakup of their civil and social life," Benedict said.

He urged them to raise their heads and reconstruct their life through "reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and coexistence among tribal, ethnic and religious groups."

The Vatican strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In its aftermath, Benedict has frequently criticized attacks against Iraqi Christians by Islamic extremists. Last year, he urged President Bush to keep the safety of Iraqi Christians in mind.

Tibet: The Story Of A Tragedy

This is an excellent history of the tragic Tibetan peoples and land (courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/user/Windhorse):

Stolen Oil Profits Keep Iraq’s Insurgency Running

This is why the surge will ultimately fail. Our forces are fighting and dying to prop up a hopelessly corrupt government:

The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated — and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week.

“It’s the money pit of the insurgency,” said Capt. Joe Da Silva, who commands several platoons stationed at the refinery.

Five years after the war in Iraq began, the insurgency remains a lethal force. The steady flow of cash is one reason, even as the American troop buildup and the recruitment of former insurgents to American-backed militias have helped push the number of attacks down to 2005 levels.

In fact, money, far more than jihadist ideology, is a crucial motivation for a majority of Sunni insurgents, according to American officers in some Sunni provinces and other military officials in Iraq who have reviewed detainee surveys and other intelligence on the insurgency.

Although many American military officials and politicians — and even the Iraqi public — use the term Al Qaeda as a synonym for the insurgency, some American and Iraqi experts say they believe that the number of committed religious ideologues remains small. They say that insurgent groups raise and spend money autonomously for the most part, with little centralized coordination or direction.

Congressman Hoyer: Bush, Republicans did not "Follow Law"

This speech was given by Congressman Steny Hoyer during the FISA debate in the House of Representatives yesterday. It was a powerful indictment of Bush, the Republicans, and their domestic spying program.

China will Crush Tibet Protests While World Remains Silent

Will the world remain silent when the Chinese authorities crush the Tibetan rebellion? Tragically, the answer is yes. As happened during the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, the world did nothing and said very little. The profits made by multi-national corporations trump human rights. Even this article source refers to the protesters as "rioters." The only reason the story is being covered at all is because of the cell phone videos coming. The media only cares about sensationalism. The tragedy will be forgotten in 2 weeks, just as it was during the Mianmar protests of last year:

China set a "surrender" deadline after riots in Lhasa that it said killed 10 innocent people, launching a crackdown on Saturday after the worst unrest in Tibet for two decades.

The response came after torrid protests on Friday which flew in the face of official claims the region was immune from unrest as Beijing readies to hold the Olympic Games in August.

"Criminals who do not surrender themselves by the deadline will be sternly punished according to the law," stated the notice on the Tibetan government Web site (www.tibet.gov.cn). It added that those who "harbour or hide" them also face harsh treatment.

The government offered rewards and protection for informers.

Chinese television showed footage of rioters trashing shops and trying to break down the entrance of a bank, and plumes of smoke floating above the city.

Former Clinton State Dept. Official: Hillary "Exaggerating" Her Experience

This comes from someone who worked for Bill. He knows from whence he speaks. Finally someone comes forward to challenge Hillary's record during her husbands reign:

Former Clinton State Department official Greg Craig continued to take aim at Hillary Clinton's foreign policy claims Friday, telling the National Journal that the former first lady has "grossly exaggerated the nature of her experience."

"If you're running for president on the basis of your claims of experience, when you then cite examples, you should be careful to be accurate," Craig said. "The evidence should be accurate. And my point is that Senator Clinton and her supporters have in serious ways overstated, if not grossly exaggerated, the nature of her experience."

"I think she is misleading the American public on the nature of her experience," he also said.Craig, a supporter of Barack Obama, was the director of policy planning at the State Department under former President Clinton.

Like Bush, McCain Uses Qaeda Threat to try and Win Election

Why not? It worked for Bush. Frighten the American into voting for you by warning of a non-existing al Qaeda threat. Right out of the Bush gang playbook. George would be proud of McCain:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him.

McCain, at a town hall meeting in this Philadelphia suburb, was asked if he had concerns that anti-American militants in Iraq might ratchet up their activities in Iraq to try to increase casualties in September or October and tip the November election against him.

"Yes, I worry about it," McCain said. "And I know they pay attention because of the intercepts we have of their communications ... The hardest thing in warfare is to counter someone or a group of individuals who are willing to take their own lives in order to take others."

A Return to Violence in Iraq?

The surge was a temporary solution that threatened to fall apart the moment our forces were withdrawn from any region in Iraq. Now we are seeing a return to the bad old days:

Militants have staged a deadly wave of attacks in Baghdad two weeks after the U.S. military began pulling out the first combat brigade from last year's troop buildup.

The uptick in violence has raised questions about whether recent progress on security in the capital could be reversed as more U.S. troops are scheduled to depart.

A BMW loaded with explosives detonated Thursday in a busy commercial district in Baghdad, killing 18 people. The bombing was reminiscent of attacks seen last year before President Bush ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. The increase resulted in a decline in violence nationwide.

The evidence is coming of increase in violence:

Iraq has seen some increased violence since January, including suicide and car bombings, despite a sharp overall decline in attacks in the past eight months, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The rise in violence was partly as a result of recent U.S.-led offensives against Islamist militants, including al Qaeda in Iraq, the Defense Department said in its latest quarterly report on the war.

The release of the report, which covers December through February, coincided with a surge of violence that killed 46 people across Iraq on Tuesday.

The Pentagon noted a rise in security incidents since January in Nineveh and Diyala provinces and other areas where it said al Qaeda in Iraq militants have flocked since being driven from former strongholds by U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen.

Public support for the war has grown since 2006. But that change with the rise in violence in Iraq:

American public support for the military effort in Iraq has reached a high point unseen since the summer of 2006, a development that promises to reshape the political landscape.

According to late February polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 53 percent of Americans - a slim majority - now believe “the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals” in Iraq. That figure is up from 42 percent in September 2007.

The percentage of those who believe the war in Iraq is going “very well” or “fairly well” is also up, from 30 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent today.

The situation in Iraq remains fluid, of course. A surge in violence or in troop deaths could lead to rapid fluctuations in public opinion. But as the war nears its fifth year, the steady upturn in the public mood stands to alter the dynamics of races up and down the ballot.

And the monsters in Iraq are still alive and well. The war has only increased their hatred and butchery:

Severed fingers of five Western workers were sent to the U.S. military in Iraq, giving the men's relatives hope they're still alive.

The men were abducted in late 2006 and early 2007, a U.S. official said yesterday in Washington.

The Austrian weekly magazine News first reported the delivery of the five fingers in Wednesday's edition, citing unidentified authorities working on the case.

Patrick Reuben, whose twin brother, Paul Reuben, is among the missing, said Wednesday the FBI told his family members that "the fingers were confirmed to be those of the hostages.''

Bill Gates: We Need More Foreign Workers

Lou Dobbs, champion of the American worker:

Microsoft's Bill Gates on Capitol Hill yesterday claimed that American firms need more foreign worker visas, even though Indian firms are the largest users of H1B visas. But fawning members of Congress showed little desire to challenge Gates to hire more American workers. Isn’t it amazing to watch public servants, elected to represent their constituents, without a single challenge to the accuracy, the perspective, the reality of working people in the country?

Transcript: Olbermann Denounces Clinton on Ferraro Scandal; Hillary Apologizes

These scorching words might have led to Hillary Clinton apologizing for Ferraro hit on Obama (Read entire comment here and see the video)):

Senator, as it has reached its apex in their tone-deaf, arrogant and insensitive reaction to the remarks of Geraldine Ferraro, your own advisers are slowly killing your chances to become president.

Senator, their words, and your own, are now slowly killing the chances for any Democrat to become president.

Wow:

But in fact, Senator, you are now campaigning as if Barack Obama were the Democrat and you were the Republican.

As Shakespeare wrote, Senator, that way madness lies.

You have missed a critical opportunity to do what was right.

No matter what Ms. Ferraro now claims, no one took her comments out of context.

Hillary's apology. Why did it take so long:

"I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive," Hillary Clinton said. "We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama."

[...]Of Ferraro's comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: "I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee."

Ferraro Racial Slur Part of Clinton Smear Strategy

The fact that Geraldine Ferraro refuses to apologize for racially insensitive remarks and that Hillary Clinton will not denounce them, shows this is part of a deliberate strategy to divide our the voters along racial lines. The Clintons have repeatedly tried this race-baiting strategy throughout the campaign:

Geraldine Ferraro stood by her controversial comments about Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy today.

"I am sorry that people think this was a racist comment," Ferraro said in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."

She declined to apologize directly for the firestorm she created when she told a newspaper last week that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

She told Sawyer she was "absolutely not" sorry for what she said.

Ferraro, a former 1984 vice presidential candidate, also told Sawyer she has no intention of stepping down as a member of Sen. Hillary Clinton's finance committee.

She told Sawyer she was trying to say it's a good thing that Obama was where he was. Ferraro said she was saying that "the black community came out with ... pride in [Obama's] candidacy. You would think he would say 'thank you' for doing that, instead, I'm charged with being a racist."

Now notice the parallel between the Ferraro comments and those by the former presidential candidate in endorsing Clinton in December:

"It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim," said Kerrey, a former governor and the current president of the New School in New York City. "There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal."

Kerrey's mention of Obama's middle name and his Muslim roots raised eyebrows because they are also used as part of a smear campaign on the Internet that falsely suggests Obama is a Muslim who wants to bring jihad to the United States.

Here is Hillary's lame attempt at distancing herself from the comments:

"I do not agree with that," Clinton said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press, and later added, "It's regrettable that any of our supporters - on both sides, because we both have this experience - say things that kind of veer off into the personal."

"We ought to keep this on the issues. There are differences between us" on approaches to health care, energy, experience, Clinton said.

Why doesn't Ms.Clinton fire Ferraro the way the Obama campaign forced out Power for her "monster" comment. In November Obama realized that Hillary would try to swift boat him. He was right:

Obama accused Clinton of “'swift boat’ politics” and vowed he will not be intimidated.

“I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party,” Obama said. “The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old ‘Swift boat’ politics. The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it.”

Ferraro made similar comments 2 weeks ago on--guess which--FOX news. And she was accused of using the race-card by the host:

FERRARO: If Barack Obama were a white man, would we be talking about this as a potential real problem for Hillary?

If he were a woman...

GIBSON: You mean if he were John Edwards?

FERRARO: If he were a woman of any color, would he be in this position that he's in, absolutely not.

GIBSON: Geraldine, are you playing the race card?

Admiral Fallon Removed for Standing up to the Neocons

Admiral Fallon was forced out as so many Generals before him for standing up to a Fascist White House. He should be an inspiration to others to speak out against evil. The Admiral's outspokenness should dispel the myth that being a general means following the orders of a commander-in-chief without question. That's what separates a free country and a dictatorship:

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

"Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the Centcom region," Fallon, who is traveling in Iraq, said in a statement issued by his U.S. headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

"And although I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America's interests there," he said.

Here's part of that infamous Esquire interview:

When Dick Cheney has rattled his saber, it has generally meant that he intends to use it. And in spite of recent war spasms aimed at Iran from this sclerotic administration, Fallon is in no hurry to pick up any campaign medals for Iran. And therein lies the rub for the hard-liners led by Cheney. Army General David Petraeus, commanding America's forces in Iraq, may say, "You cannot win in Iraq solely in Iraq," but Fox Fallon is Petraeus's boss, and he is the commander of United States Central Command, and Fallon doesn't extend Petraeus's logic to mean war against Iran.

So while Admiral Fallon's boss, President George W. Bush, regularly trash-talks his way to World War III and his administration casually casts Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as this century's Hitler (a crown it has awarded once before, to deadly effect), it's left to Fallon--and apparently Fallon alone--to argue that, as he told Al Jazeera last fall: "This constant drumbeat of conflict . . . is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions."

What America needs, Fallon says, is a "combination of strength and willingness to engage."

Those are fighting words to your average neocon--not to mention your average supporter of Israel, a good many of whom in Washington seem never to have served a minute in uniform. But utter those words for print and you can easily find yourself defending your indifference to "nuclear holocaust."

How does Fallon get away with so brazenly challenging his commander in chief?

The answer is that he might not get away with it for much longer. President Bush is not accustomed to a subordinate who speaks his mind as freely as Fallon does, and the president may have had enough.

The Post's take:

As he was preparing to take command, Fallon said that a war with Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch," according to retired Army Col. Patrick Lang.

Lang, a former analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in an interview that he asked Fallon how he would avoid such a conflict. "I have options, you know," Fallon responded, which Lang interpreted as implying Fallon would step down rather than follow orders he considers mistaken.