DID RUSH LIMBAUGH SUBVERT PRIMARY? Bomber Sends Letter

The "50 State Katrina"

Home foreclosures soared to an all-time high in the final quarter of last year, underscoring the suffering of distressed homeowners and the growing danger the housing meltdown poses for the economy.(AP)

JOBS REPORT: Friday-63,000 jobs lost, worst in five years.

DID REPUBLICAN RIGHT SUBVERT DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY?
WAS TIMES SQUARE BOMBING POLITICAL?
IRAQI RESISTANCE SURGES THIS TIME, 54 DEAD

Who Bombed The Times Square Recuitmant Center?

First report omits any details of what the reasons were. Police then said to be searching for clues. Say a man on a bycycle was seen stopping and then leaving. They say the letter received in Congress-described below now as an anti-war statement had nothing to do with it.

"One of the law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation in New York is continuing, called it an "incredibly unbelievable coincidence." How wierd. Police say the letter writer has been found, was from LA and will no be arrested. The mystery/hunt continues. Here'a last night's report.

AP reported Thursday night:

Capitol Hill offices received letters Thursday containing a photo of the Times Square military recruiting office before it was bombed and including the claim "We Did It." The manila envelopes contained a photo of a man standing in front of the recruiting station before it was bombed.

The photo was the kind commonly sent as a holiday greeting card, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation.

The message on the card: "Happy New Year, We Did It."

The envelope also contained a packet of approximately 10 sheets of paper that seemed to be a political manifesto railing against the Iraq war and a booklet. The aide didn't know what the booklet was. A second aide, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said similar letters arrived in as many as 10 offices.

Capitol Police, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service officials said they were investigating.

The man in the photo was thin, white with graying hair, wearing a striped flannel shirt and jeans, the Democratic aide said. A law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, confirmed some of the contents of the letters as described by the aide.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of an e-mail sent from the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to other lawmakers Thursday that reads:

"A few offices on the House side have received a letter today addressed to 'Members of Congress' with a picture of a man standing in front of the Times Square recruiting station that was bombed in New York today with the statement 'We did it.' He is standing in front of it with his arms spread out and he's attached his political manifesto."

TERROR THREATS AGAIN

In the last week, domestic "terrorism" has been in the news with reports of the burning of luxury homes by the Earth Liberation Front in Seattle to make a somewhat unclear ecological message and then this explosion early Thursday morning in Times Square, another unclear political message explained in a still unreleased ten page document. No doubt these incidents must have upset the war on terror crowd who used the occasion to issue one more vague warnining suggesting a new attack MAY be in the offing.

"WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida terrorists may be plotting more urgently to attack the United States to maintain their credibility and ability to recruit followers, the U.S. military commander in charge of domestic defense said Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, told reporters he has not seen any direct threats tied to the U.S. presidential elections. But he said it would be imprudent to think that such threats are not there.

Meanwhile according to an expert quoted by the Threats watch website, Al Qaeda is in decline in Iraq.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno lays this dynamic out well here today, as he described the continued decline of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"They are struggling to maintain a coherent capacity," added Odierno, who is soon to become the Vice-Chief of Staff of the Army.

He went on to say that al Qaeda will likely try to keep its name in the news by executing occasional attacks, such as the Feb. 1 suicide bombing in which the organization detonated explosive belts on two mentally disabled women.

"What al Qaeda wants … is to do an event where they can get on TV every once in a while," Odierno said. "That's what they're down to."

So are they a big threat or not? I guess they COULD BE. So let's call a press conference.

ANOTHER TRAGEDY: UNC STUDENT PRESIDENT SLAIN IN MURDER

POLITICS: Report Ron Paul to Quit Race

Political Subversion of Primary Feared?

Lots of reports coming in suggesting that right wing personalities urged Republicans to vote in the Democractic primary to destabilize an already volatile situation.. This report is from REASON, a libertarian publication:

It's Rush Wot Won It

In the days running up to these last primaries, Rush Limbaugh told his national audience of conservatives to vote in the Democratic race.

"I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura. This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it's obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don't have the stomach for it, as you probably know. We're getting all kinds of memos from the RNC, saying we're not going to be critical there. Mark McKinnon of McCain's campaign says he'll quit if they get critical over Obama. This is the presidency of the United States we're talking about. I want our party to win. I want the Democrats to lose. They're in the midst of tearing themselves apart right now. It is fascinating to watch, and it's all going to stop if Hillary loses. So, yeah, I'm asking people to cross over and, if they can stomach it - I know it's a difficult thing to do, to vote for a Clinton, but it will sustain this soap opera, and it's something I think we need. It would be fun, too."

LETTER: What happened in Texas?

Did 21 counties in TX have NO Republican voters?
Did 3 counties in TX have NO Democratic voters?

Check out the CNN and Texas Secretary of State web sites.

Really? Or is something wrong with the trade secret software that
counts the invisible e-ballots in TX?

WORLD NEWS

Venezuela decrees state of general alert

CARACAS - The Venezuelan government decreed on Wednesday a state of general alert, completing 90 percent deployment of its military force in zones bordering with Colombia.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Gustavo Rangel announced that the deployment of soldiers, combat tanks and airplanes has almost been concluded in the states of Zulia, Tachira and Apure, bordering with Colombia.

At Least 7 Dead in Attack on Jerusalem School
A gunman infiltrated a Jewish seminary and opened fire in a dining hall, police said.

NYT: Blasts Kill at Least 54 in Baghdad

So is the surge working?

"The two bombings, which authorities said also wounded 123 people, were the worst attacks the capital has seen since early February."

NYT: Major Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand

"One of the world's most notorious arms dealers, Victor Bout, was arrested in connection with the procurement of weapons for the Colombian FARC rebels."

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ECONOMY BLUES: "THE DEBT LOAD WILL DESTROY US"

WATCH CSPAN FRIDAY AT l0 AM: HEARING ON MORTGAGE CRISIS AND CEO PAY

WSJ: "Fears of Stagflation Return As Price Increases Gain Pace":

The U.S. faces an unwelcome combination of looming recession and persistent inflation that is reviving angst about stagflation, a condition not seen since the 1970s.

Inflation is rising. Yesterday the Labor Department said consumer prices in the U.S. jumped 0.4% in January and are up 4.3% over the past 12 months, near a 16-year high. Even stripping out sharply rising food and energy costs, prices rose 0.3% in January, driven by education, medical care, clothing and hotels. They are up by 2.5% from the previous year, a 10-month high.

Roanoke Times World News: Debt Load Will Destroy Us

Dick Bauman writes: "In a college freshman psychology course many years ago, I learned about the reality principle. This proposition has been turned upside down in recent decades, and we have become conditioned to be a consumer society dependent on debt to satisfy our wants and sometimes our needs. The same source states that the typical family credit card balance is almost 5 percent of their annual income, and 8.3 percent of households owe $9,000 or more on their credit cards"

ABC NEWS: CREDIT CARDS ARE THE NEXT CRISIS

GLOBAL DEBT MARKETS FALL 45% IN FOURTH QUARTER

THE ECONOMIST-THE COSTS SO FAR

A troubling estimate of the costs so far

FEAR of a downward credit spiral hangs over America's economy. The script is well known. Rising losses from the mortgage mess make banks less willing to lend, which weakens the economy's prospects, which puts further strain on the banks. But until now most of the estimates of the likely cost of the crisis look as though they have been plucked from thin air. A paper* prepared for a recent meeting of the US Monetary Policy Forum, a gathering of Wall Street economists, academics and central bankers, is far more thorough.

The study begins by estimating the size of mortgage-related losses using three different methods. One extrapolates from the defaults seen in different mortgage vintages to date; a second calculates the losses implicit in the prices of credit derivatives linked to subprime mortgage-backed securities as measured by the ABX indices produced by Markit (see article); a third draws on the experience of foreclosures in previous regional housing busts in Texas, Massachusetts and California. Each method involves some heroic assumptions. With house-prices falling nationally, foreclosure rates may rise far higher than they have in the past. By contrast, the ABX prices may be reflecting underlying risk and illiquidity as much as expected losses. Strikingly, however, all three approaches yield similar results: that mortgage-credit losses are likely to be around $400 billion.

That is a large number, but it is no worse than the losses that can be suffered on a bad day on Wall Street. The reason that the macroeconomic consequences are likely to be much bigger is that many of these losses will be born by banks and other leveraged financial institutions that hold approximately half of all outstanding mortgage debt in America. If the losses are spread evenly (a big if), that suggests America's banks are likely to take a hit of some $200 billion.

NOTE: Bank of America put the overall costs much high when factoring in a fall in share prices. Their number: $7.9 TRILLLION.

AP: China Sees Inflation Pressure Growing

BEIJING - China faces growing pressure for prices to rise due to food shortages and a credit boom but is confident inflation can be held to its 4.8 percent target this year, financial officials said Thursday."We will face increasing pressure for price rises and they need to have our full attention, becuse they have a direct bearing on the performance of our economy," the chairman of China's planning agency, Ma Kai, said at a news conference during the annual session of the national legislature.

Federal Reserve: Homeowner Equity Falls Below 50%

Charleston Gazette:More Foreclosure Prevention Needed, Bernanke Says

WASHINGTON - Battling a dangerous wave of home foreclosures, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called Tuesday for additional relief and urged lenders to help distressed owners by lowering the amount of their loans. Even with some relief efforts underway by industry and government, foreclosures and late payments on home mortgages are likely to rise "for a while longer," Bernanke warned."Reducing the rate of preventable foreclosures would promote economic stability for households, neighborhoods and the nation as a whole," Bernanke said
CARLYLE GROUP BEHIND

Carlyle Capital Corporation, the fund manager backed by the giant private equity firm Carlyle Group, has not been able to meet several payment demands.

Top Iraq Contractor Skirts US Taxes Offshore

Farah Stockman, writing for The Boston Globe, reports, "Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp., has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven."

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MEDIA: Government Investigating NY Times In Leak, FCC Intrigue

MULTICHANNEL NEWS:FCC: Marttin Disrupts Tate-Adelstein Deal: Sources

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin has refused to step down on a specified date, scuttling a deal between the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) designed to award new terms to incumbent FCC commissioners, Republican Deborah Taylor Tate and Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, according to individuals familiar with the details.

CNN's Technology Helping Election '08 Coverage

David Borhman, CNN senior vice president and Washington, D.C., bureau chief, thinks CNN's primary-election coverage has been greatly aided by new tech equipment, including a piece of equipment he first saw at a convention for private investigators.

Yossi Melman: Who Leaked The Details Of A CIA-Mossad Plot Against Iran?

The Bush administration is prolonging the hunting season against journalists. The latest victim is James Risen, The New York Times reporter for national security and intelligence affairs. About three months ago, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena against him, ordering Risen to give evidence in court. A heavy blackout has been imposed on the affair, with the only hint being that it has to do with sensitive matters of "national security."

GLOBAL COOLING? RIGHT-WING FUNDERS CHALLENGE GLOBAL WARMING

Bill Berkowitz: Skeptics' conference enabled by conservative philanthropy
Heartland Institute and dozens of other sponsors of conference funded by Coors, Bradley, Walton, Scaife and DeVos foundations

"Ignored, and often even censored and demonized" is how the promotional materials for the Heartland Institute's recent conference "The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change," described the way "distinguished scholars from the U.S. and around the world," that have had the courage to question global warming, have been treated by environmentalists and the mainstream media. In a "Background" piece, conference organizers claimed that "They [the scholars] have been labeled 'skeptics' and even 'global warming deniers,' a mean-spirited attempt to lump them together with Holocaust deniers.

Always on the lookout to defend the oppressed, both Glenn Beck, the right wing host of a CNN Headline News show, and the Fox News Channel rode in to rescue the "demonized" and beleaguered. On Monday morning, March 3, "Fox and Friends" homed in on the problem that the "skeptics" are facing. Fox's point: Goreistas, or advocates of devoting major resources to dealing with global warming, receive a disproportionate share of network and cable television face time, while those raising questions about global warming are shut out of the debate.

However, according to Think Progress, the conference was not ignored by the mainstream, media. "….The New York Times has published two separate articles on the conference, and the Times' John Tierney has written about it on his blog. Other mainstream press outlets that have covered the conference: the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, the New York Sun, and Reuters."

DXM SENDS THESE ITEMS:

So who will replace Limbaugh (as per the dKOS URL below)?I wrote some things on The Geeze today

How about Lou Dobbs?

LETTER FROM Robin Marie Ward

Hello Mr. Schechter,

Thank you for your thoughts. The symbols of the parties are fitting for one reason; if you Monsanto the elephant with the donkey, you get a big fat useless ass that sticks it's nose everywhere it's not wanted.

Remember, when it comes time, Die Bold!

I want to get your book. Your movie "In Debt We Trust," was fantastic. It was right alongside Aaron Russo's "America: Freedom to Fascism." What's next? It's not too heavy for me, I'm a general contractor whp did two houses in San Francisco last year, complete with granite countertops.

Jerry Policoff on Thursday's p 1 story in the NY Times:

OPEC, rebuffing calls from U.S. President George W. Bush to increase oil output, cited "mismanagement" of the American economy as a major factor driving prices up….

"This is a pretty amazing story, only because it is one of the few I've seen that goes to one of the major root causes (aside from corporate greed) behind rising oil prices. The bottom line is that the Bush administration seems hell-bent on de-valuing the dollar in spite of the long-term harm that can do, because a cheap dollar helps his corporate friends sell more product abroad. Remember that OPEC prices its oil in dollars. That means every time the dollar sinks in value against the Euro, OPEC takes a hit on the world market unless it raises the price, which is exactly what it has been doing. In effect OPEC is raising prices to remain flat against the Euro. Now Bush pressures them to increase production to lower the cost of oil, and they are balking and saying, in effect, if you want to influence the price of oil do something to stop the free-fall of the dollar.

I think there is an implicit threat here. The Bush administration just keeps printing greenbacks to pay its ballooning bills, and that only accelerates the descent of the dollar. If OPEC switches to the Euro we are really screwed because then we have to come up with the currency. We can't just go out and print up some Euros to pay for the oil. There have been rumors lately that OPEC is thinking about doing exactly that. Iran and Venezuela have already done it (and Iraq did it in 2001 which is probably why Bush decided to take Saddam Hussein out. Iraq is now back on the dollar standard). It will be interesting to see if this article from the International Herald Tribune (owned by The New York Times) makes its way into the U.S. corporate media."

IF I ONLY HAD THIS:

Miguel sent this in……

Tech World: SanDisk will demonstrate a continuous backup device for laptop

"SanDisk expects to demonstrate a continuous backup device for laptop users at the CeBIT show in Germany this week.

Most laptops are especially vulnerable to data loss, for example if they are dropped or a cup of hot coffee is spilt over the machine. However the SanDisk FlashBack Adapter is intended to resolve the perennial backup problem for laptop users, without the need to regularly connect to an external backup drive."

Thats the blog and that's the week.

It was good to have a machine to write on. Had some fun Thursday with Kieno on South Africa's 702 Radio. Discussing US politics with angry white men.

Off to Boston Friday. Back in the saddle Monday. Your questions and items welcome. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org

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