At this moment there is a diary at the top of the rec list by the usually commendable Governor Gregoire of Washington State. In between her mom and apple pie routine she blames Bush and Senator McCain for supporting the US Air Force decision to buy a European refueling tanker instead of the plane Boeing offer. Implicit in all of this is that somehow the American worker got screwed by the Federal government.

This my friends is a golden example of baiting and misinformation. The Governor is about to lose a large amount of jobs from her state, and she's trying just about anything to keep it from happening. That's fine, it's her job to do so. But coming here and laying out a massively distorted picture of what is going on is a disservice to this site, and is utterly contemptible in my view.

Boeing lost the deal, and for damned good reason.

More below the fold.

I track international trade as part of my job. All year there has been a steady drum beat of stories that 2008 was going to be a lean year as far as food stores were concerned. In the last few days however a combination of stories has caught my eye that really drive home the problem facing the world's poor.

If you had to pick one grain that represented the diet of humanity, it would be rice. It is the baseline staple crop for over half of the world's population. Yesterday India, a country that became food self sufficient over a generation ago, banned exports of rice (other high priced basmati) as a means of preventing domestic shortages. It joins Vietnam (the traditional rice bowl of asia) Thailand, China, and Egypt who have already restricted exports to some degree in the past few weeks.

The causes for the shortage are many, and the long term results are hard to predict, but one thing seems seems certain, if international aid agencies don't see an infusion of donations quickly, some of the poorest people on earth may starve.

More after the flip.

I hate primary threads, with a passion only rivaled by my complete disdain for new formula Wrigley's Spearmint Gum. With rare exceptions, say 4 that I can think of since Dec 01, they are repetitive, meaningless screamfests where people vent their anxiety at the opposite camp through a series never ending troll sessions.

Of course, I complete hypocrite for detesting these threads and their denizens. I know damn well that I was just as bad in 2004. Hell the only reason I registered here was to tell off the clueless fanboi's that seemed to think Howard Dean was a remotely qualified candidate. I have no idea how many hours I posted here and other sites debating the issue to DEATH. (Historical Note, I was completely fucking wrong, oops.)

So heres a useless poll, for a generally useless day judging by the Rec list. How many site members who were around in 2004 (registered or not) hate primary threads far more today than they did back in the good old days of Clark bars?

Friends, bloggers, freedom fighters all; I stand before you today to speak a hard truth that we've all kept silent about for far too long. Open Left has really gone down hill since it opened.

It used to be just about the best blog ever. When I joined Open Left it was absolute blogger utopia. The color scheme was so innovative, even I didn't get what the hell they were going for, so you know it was cutting edge. There were posts and other members, and above all COMMUNITY. When I joined at 12:37 EST it was a small core of dedicated members who really knew what they were talking about. Their posts were witty, and insightful, and you really felt you could trust one another.

Follow the sad fall after the fold...

This is in the category of semi-breaking, but I hate that damn title, and this might just be the first time I'm hearing of this, but MSNBC is reporting that John Murtha is going to attempt to cut war funding starting some time next month. He has the chair of Defense Appropriations Subcommittee so for the next two years at least ALL military spending bills pass through him. MSNBC has reason to believe that he is going to make full use of that power.

His legislation would dictate how long troops can stay, the equipment they use and whether any money could be spent to expand military operations into Iran. Murtha says few units could meet the high standards he envisions, meaning Bush’s plan to keep some 160,000 troops in Iraq for months on end would be thwarted.

Some analysis and commentary below the fold.

Dear Dollar Coin,

I know we've had this conversation in the past, but somehow I don't seem to be getting through. I thought that maybe if I ignored you long enough, or constantly avoided you, you might get the hint, but its seems subtlety isn't working. So I feel that I need to just come out and say it. I DO NOT LIKE YOU.

I know I thought you were kind of neat when we first met, and yes I admit my interest perked up a little when you came out with your whole new look a few years ago. (I am sooo sorry about that, it was a moment of weakness, I didn't mean to lead you on, but it seems I gave you hope or something and I've regretted it ever since. Really I didn't mean to be a tease.) But that is all in the past now, we gave it a shot, we just don't work together, you really need to move on.

Don't know if this has been diaried, and it's not exactly world shattering news. But the DCCC has entered the NJ-07 Ferguson (R) Stender(D) race by funding a GOTV drive via robocalling. I received one of the calls last night. It is a recording of Stender saying what a vital election this is and they have a real chance to win yadda yadda.

But then surprisingly (maybe this is SOP but first time I've ever gotten a call like this) it gives you the option to press one to volunteer for the campaign in the final weekend and/or last two days of the campaign. Sadly I need to work that entire time and can't give my time. So I pressed two and it sent me to a "no problem" type message, again from Stender.

More details below the fold.

Last week the Washington Post ran an editorial by former Secretaries of Defense Harold Brown and James Schlesinger. In it they fired the opening shot of a DoD PR offensive pushing for a dangerous new weapon system which is not only unneccesary but also completely irresponsible.

The weapon system in question is a new non-nuclear version of the Navy's Trident II submarine launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). When it first appeared it struck me as such an absurd concept that I figured it was a one off think tank idiocy that somehow made it into the op ed pages.

Sadly a story in Monday's NYTimes proved me wrong.

Details below the fold.

I didn't see a diary on this so I just wanted to point out that the Bush Administration has withdrawn the nomination of former DP World exec David Sanborn to be Commissioner of the US Maritime Administration. You may recall that this was one of the thousand hot button issues that surrounded the Dubai Ports debaucle.

Like the DPW mess there really wasn't anything wrong with the nomination fact wise. There isn't any evidence this guy is any worse than whoever Bush is going to nominate as his replacement. But it is clear the GOP wants the issue to go away ASAP so they buried the withdrawl late last night. Not shedding any tears, I just wish the country would react with such vigor over actual attrocitites like torture in Iraq or the appalling underfunding of Port security in the last five years.

So that's it on the facts. Not a red hot item, but I figured someone should make note of it here.

Over on MSNBC there is a story up describing the Lieberman/Lamont primary race. It is pretty pro-Lieberman over all. Stating "left leaning bloggers" and "deaniacs" have a vendetta against Joe b/c he opposed Dean's rise. Now that part is pretty clearly BS to me. I was a Clark guy through and through and was honestly suprised as all hell when Dean turned out to be an excellent party chair. Regardless I think Joe needs to go. The guy does more damage to us in interviews than he could ever make up for in vote counts.

One part of the story caught my eye though. It claims Lieberman is actually a pretty loyal Dem on the vast majority of issues. I'll post the quoted numbers below, but they honestly surprised me.

I pre-ordered Crashing the Gates and got my copy a few days ago. I liked it so much I ordered two copies for friend from Amazon. I just got an email from Amazon saying the ship date for the books has been moved up. Delivery is now expected March 6-7th. I chose normal delivery so that would have to mean that the books are shipping any day now.

So is the book releasing early? It would make sense to me since it will capitalize on the buzz from all the reviews being posted. I just hadn't read or heard anything to that effect. You figure if they were moving up the release date Kos would be trumpeting it to everyone so that Kossacks can run out to their Barnes and Nobles (or small independant books stores if they still exist in your part of the country) and buy them asap.

Really a great great book. Perfectly timed to help lead the charge to maximize out gains this elections cycle.

So anyone heard anything?

Every few weeks Dailykos, the site I love dearly, picks a topic of the day and proceeds to lose its collective mind over it. Today apparently we're back to Avian flu. It drives me nuts to read crap like "Critics may say the avian flu probably won't be a pandemic but EVERYONE agrees one will happen some day!" Its also commonly accepted that the sun is going to blow up one day, and before then we'll probably get hit by a space rock so big that not even Bruce Willis can save us. Rational people don't go running around building anti-ateroid bunkers.

My wife has her PhD in bio so maybe I'll coax her into giving the probabilities talk on this being the BIG one rather than it being the next toxic mold, SARS, Pig Flu, shark attack story the media picks scare us into watching the evening news. But my main bitch is people constantly bringing up the 1918 flu as if that has ANY bearing on the world today.

Details below.

As many people have pointed out one of the first thing Bush did in the wake of Katrina was waive the Davis Bacon Wage supports that require relief workers be paid a wage in keeping with the local labor market. This cut the minimum wage for all relief related workers drastically.

Turns out Bush may very well have no legal authority to waive that requirement. His actions are based on a law that was nullified in 1976, almost 30 years ago!

Details below the fold.

Here is the truth behind the GOPs efforts to "reach out" to the black community. This NYT article documents how they want to stop forceing banks to lend a minimum amount to people and businesses in poor areas of the country. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/nyregion/20bank.html?adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=109828101 4-Pi4PPKgMeOWGrwJgJHgI+Q

Now obviously this doesn't just effect blacks, but here in NJ these rules are pretty much the only reason many banks loan any money at all in the poorest inner cities such as Irvington, Camden, and Newark. Under the new rules the inner cities would be left to rot so as to reduce the risk to profits of banks that have done fine under this requirement for the last 30 years. The will kill urban renewal efforts and further entrench the culture of hopeless poverty that rules in so many of these areas.

There is a resteraunt down the street from where I work in Newark, great food, great staff, hilarious owner who seems to work 20 hour days. But the actual building was almost falling down until he got a loan last year. He couldn't get one for years until some bank from south jersey was below their quota and came and actually offered to give him the loan. Now its totally renovated, is packed every day, and employs 15-20 locals between all its shifts. Local owned, local run, helping bring the neighborhood back. Its stories like that that this idiotic decision, if it goes into effect, will destroy.

But hey they'll gain .3 on their quarterly earnings report, so thats worth it apparently.

Ok I've heard numbers like 40 and 80 weapons systems were voted against by Kerry, sometimes with the claim that these weapons are now critical in our war on terror. But can anyone actually name them??? I was in the Army National Guard until not too long ago, and I sure can't.

The M-16, the SAW, the M-203 were all fielded long ago. The AT-4 anti-tank rocket is an off the shelf purchase of a slightly modified Swedish Carl Gustav design. Grenades were upgraded, but thats about all I can think of and its not like the old ones didn't blow people up effectively. Also unless it was part of an omnibus defense bill I can't really see Kerry taking a stand against slightly improved hand grenades. Various vehicles has normal upgrades, but that doesn't really help when poor ass Guard MPs are still armoring their own Humvees with scrap steel.

The Air Force is always coming up with new Bombs, Missles, and Planes. But are any of them key in the War on terror? Post Vietnam Era Phantoms with laser designators could have done any of the Iraq or Afghanistan missions. With total air superiority older generation laser bomb kits are more than sufficient. The Navy is a non-player in all of this, and the Marines while constantly innovating don't have the budget to field anywhere near that many truely new systems.

So can ANYONE tell me, what the hell critical systems has Kerry voted against, much less blocked????

Just saw an article in the Washington Post that helps prove a point I've been trying to make since the McCain Feingold Campaign Finance reform was passed. The central purpose of the law, removing the corrosive effect of soft money political contributions from politics, is working just fine.

The WP article Cutting Into the Checks documents have corporate contributions to political parties are way down in general. Take away the implicit pay for play benefits of corporate donations and the money source dries up. Simple as that. More details below the fold.

I've got five gmail accounts to give away and I'm not finding anyone who wants them so let me know if you need/want one.

Sorry for the short diary, but I figured I'd just throw it out there.

Wow, this hasn't been diaried yet from what I can tell. But the CBO, the non-partisan Congressional research body currently headed by a Republican Economist who used to work for Bush, has released a report saying that the effects of the Bush tax cut was a minor cut for the poor, a major cut for the rich, and a large increase in the tax burden carried by people earning 51-75k. No big shock there, but this is by far the most respectable and high profile study to conclude this.

Link is here. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5689001/