They have your DNA

Here is another reason for innocent people to fear a government with free access to lots of information. They will use it to widen their dragnet and intentionally sweep up people they know are not involved in the crime they are investigating.

California (that pioneer of hairbrained legal shenanigans) has decided to use DNA evidence to round up family members of whoever's DNA they happen to find at the crime scene. I left DNA everywhere I went today. If a crime happens there later, does that mean the cops are going to go harrass my mother at her workplace in the hopes of finding a clue? Or will they simply use this circumstantial evidence as an easy way of pinning the blame on the first most likely suspect they can scrape up, in a horrifying combination of lazy police work and beureaucratic demands to justify an expensive test?

The practical problems I have with this new California program is that they will be spending millions on testing to answer a question that a simple records check could answer. Also, this law will only serve to create more costly criminal litigation as the courts hash out how it dovetails with the new federal law making its way through congress that forbids discrimination based on genetics.

The Friday Bacon: Three Weeks of Bacon!

Holy Shit! I haven't posted a Friday Bacon in three weeks. Don't Panic! The blog is not defunct! Depressing world happenings and personal lives for the last few weeks have gotten in the way of posting for the main contributers to this page.

Bring on the BACON!

The World Food Crisis

The world food crisis entered the perception of the average American this week when Costco and Walmart started rationing rice. I came upon rice at half the market rate today in the grocery store and bought up the thirty pounds you see to the left. I also snapped up a gallon of vegtable oil since land used for rice has been converted to the palm oil cash crop and will rise in parity with rice.

The prices of all foods, and all comodities, are linked in this global economy. The staples Wheat, Rice, and Corn have all drasticly gone up in price over the last year. The rise is due to a number of factors that feed back on one another because of the global economy.

In the United States the farm lobby has pushed congress to invest in corn based ethanol. This created an incentive outside of the market for U.S. farmers to dedicate feilds that had been used for producing rice and wheat for food in the past, to corn, that is being burned for fuel. The President spoke of using switchgrass but the money has gone to corn. So this decreases supply of staple foods that the U.S. would otherwise export to the world. With the falling dollar our exports would be very attractive except the cost of rice is fixed to the dollar so it faces the pressures of inflation. The cost of fuel feeds back into the cost of food because of the energy used in transport and processing.

High Gas prices wouldn't effect the hungry as devistatingly if their own countries produced enough food to feed them. Then they wouldn't have to import the food they need from the U.S. Around the world farmer's decisions about what to plant have been influenced by the U.S. economy over the last few years. The black hole of ever increasing imports to America due to ample credit have encouraged foreign farmers to switch to cash crops. Farming has always been a poverty industry since the beginning of time and how can you begrudge an Egyptian farmer who chooses sugar over wheat when its ten times the price?

This global trend to switch to sugar and oil instead of rice and wheat, or poppys in Afghanistan, has driven world food supply even lower. But it has done so in a highly localized way. Major rice exporting countries have cut shipments to ensure they can feed their own people and the major rice importing countries now face a crisis where the whole supply thretans to go into the black market. When the bottom dropped out of the U.S. economy and the falling value of the dollar started an upward trend toward inflation the whole world suddenly realised they had been catering to U.S. luxury demands instead of feeding themselves.

Flowers is the Least We Can Do

She may not be your mother, but you should do something nice and chipin to send some flowers to Helen Thomas. The only way to improve the endeavor would be for Stephen Colbert to deliver them to her on behalf of the Internet. If you need more reasons than her questioning of the administration's use of torture, you can also look at her contribution to Stephen Colbert's roast of the President at the 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner, the entirety of which is included below. For more information about this illustrious figure of American journalism, here is the standard wikibio, a series of opinion pieces, her website, and a look at how popular she became after the infamous exchange between her and President Bush in 2006. Mail her if this email address still works, helent@hearstdc.com. But I'm sure a hand-written letter would be much more appreciated, c/o Hearst News Service 1850 K Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20006.

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Part 2


Part 3

Ben Franklin Report: Unraveling the Knot

Although this article is long, it gives a thorough look at the fundamental conflict of interest between the credit rating agencies and the financial markets that exploded and is, to say the least, now exposing the U.S. economy to further downside risks. However, this is only one part of the calculations behind Gross Domestic Product.

Private spending and business activity is also fairly important when considering the health of a particular economy. While oil futures are a good indicator of what will happen in a few months, after oil has been refined, with near record low refinery utilization rates, into various chemical products, individual corporations earnings are perhaps a better indicator. Bank of America, the giant in discount consumer financing announced a 77% drop in profit for the first quarter of this year, mostly because of concerns with defaulting mortgages. For some anecdotal evidence, one need do no more than compare this graph of subprime mortgage concentrations, with this article about California's foreboding rising in foreclosure rates. Global shippers UPS and FedEx are usually a good indicator of economic prospects.

However, with the ongoing catastrophe that is the hunger crisis, inflation, rather than the lack of available credit, would seem to be the biggest threat to global economic stability. This inflation is, of course, a natural response to the growth in oil prices, as industrialized economies depend on the supply of crude oil in just about every sector.

The situation is exponentially compounded when the currency that is the basis of all of these transactions is rapidly depreciating in value, as seen in record lows versus the Euro. One must wonder if Ben Bernanke and the rest of the Federal Reserve Board are questioning their monetary policy, as economies that are keeping interest rates up to draw capital are seeing their currencies rise in relative value.

Another factor in this fiduciary fiasco is the echo chamber of ideas. Last summer, CEOs declared the housing crisis near its end, and more recently that the crisis was in its last throes. The point that we can take from these statements is that their companies are more important than reasoned, open discourse about the overall state of the economy. And that it is a losing proposition to trust those who are dependent upon a stock price. As long as there are CDOs and other arcane financial creations that do not have a monetary value, banks will continue to be plagued with problems, which will be further complicated by consumer spending withering away under the burn of inflation and unemployment. Surveying a crystal ball to find the answers to when the U.S.' GDP might become positive again is less than useful.

"Liar Liar"

Pants on fire! Ok so now tazers light your ass on fire.

I would ask you our regular question but it seems like the cops are getting better at press control when they fry someone.

Why Isn't Anyone Talking About All The Earthquakes?

OK, so lots of people are talking aobut the earthquake in Illinois. But what about the ones that have been shaking the ring of fire over the last week or so? Oregon Quake Swarms, Alaska, French Guiana, Maluku, Guatemala.
In the face of clear signs of the apocylapse I am compelled to ask all of you:
What is your zombie plan?

Free the West Memphis Three: The Walk of Shame

This article describes the opening of the new trial. It is still hard for me to believe that someone could be convicted of murder in America based on the kind of music they listen to and the clothes they wear.

A Crisis Meeting

G7 finance ministers and Central Bankers are scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C. through this weekend to hammer out solutions to the numerous crises facing the world economy. Here's a handy list of items that might be on their agenda.

• General Electric reported losses across almost every sector of operations for the first quarter of the year, and revised revenue for the year downward. The normally stalwart stock is perhaps the strongest indicator yet that the global recession is reaching into every part of the economy.
  
• Bear Sterns has delayed releasing its first quarter results due to the disruptions caused by the merger with JP Morgan. As they are expecting negative results, one can understand their disinterest in transparent financial accounting, but its losses will probably be indicative of the weakest parts of the financial markets.
  
• Head of Germany's Bundesbank, Axel Weber, is concerned about inflation in the Eurozone, and doesn't see any room for interest rate hikes. One can imagine the back and forth between European and American banking officials over the difference in interest rates and other monetary policies.
• According to the IMF, inflation is also expected to tap down growth in emerging nations in Asia. With consumer confidence in the United States slumping, to put it mildly, in the facing of rising import costs, growth in Asia will come to be the growth engine for the world economy.
• The food crisis throughout the developing world, while the most important of the various crises to be discussed, is unlikely going to be at the top of the agenda as finance ministers through the developed world are beginning to see the limitations of their capital.
  
• As mentioned before, the position of Ben Bernanke is likely to come under heavy scrutiny among his colleagues, as the Fed Chairman continues to stand by the notion that banks and other perhaps insolvent financial institutions should be allowed to continue operating, and although the 'originate-to-distribute' system of loans failed at almost every level and started the current credit crisis, the system could be fixed and return to being useful in the future.
• Oil prices, while retreating from their record high of $112 a barrel set earlier this week, are continue to weigh on the economy. However, the larger economic impact is felt by record high gas prices in the United States, edging closer and closer to $4 as the Summer driving season approaches.
  

Ben Franklin Report: States Paying Bills

What is an annual or bi-annual exercise in frustration in good times, has become a nightmare for many states across the union, as legislators tangle over spending priorities. An equally alarming trend is that some states were only able to reach their decisions behind closed doors, away from the probing eyes of the concerned public. And how concerned should the public be about the problems behind budget shortfalls? Well, the public is already cutting back on their expenditures, so there's little reason to further bemoan the plight of Main Street. To provide some background context, here are the BEA's GDP Figures by State. Government spending is a major factor in GDP calculations, and with states being forced to spend less, there will be further downward pressures on GDP for 2008.

In Kentucky, the budget process is getting bogged down as State Legislators use money in special funding pools to spend millions of dollars on efficient and not expenditures, such as infrastructure little league equipment. However, to add more funds to the state's General Fund, lawmakers are planning to seek at least $25 million through the sale of bonds. Even with the modest amount requested, one would hope that the State Government would seek to diversify their income sources to allow for more flexibility. The deadline for final action on the budget is April 15th, the last day of the 2008 General Assembly.

In New York's new budget, the final version of the budget allots education funding in a similar pattern to previous state budgets, with appeals to certain constituencies, such as Westchester. Nine days late, the budget was decided in last minute closed door talks between legislative leaders and Gov. Patterson, who has reportedly been marginalized throughout budget negotiations. However, depending on $1.5 billion windfall funding begs the question of whether or not the state has overspent.

In another case of infrastructure projects falling under the axe of deficits caused by falling receipts and increased costs, South Carolina's budget is facing a $90 million shortfall that appears to be stifling long-term economic growth and short-term development opportunities. Water and sewage aside, the proposed fiber optic system, Light Rail, designed to connect the state's three research universities to national and international colleagues probably would have created numerous extraneous benefits beyond the possibility of drawing private investment.

Nevada's situation seems much more drastic, or in the words of Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, Democrat from Las Vegas, "We're down to the bone." As all of their traditional revenue streams have dried up, the state is facing at least $350 million in budget shortfalls, aside from unfunded liabilities in the State Pension system which will cause problems in future years.

In California, the Governator is on a tour of Republican strongholds to drum up support for an amendment to the state constitution required by his sytemic fix of the state budget process. In an effort to tie the hands of legislators, Arnold is trying to limit increases in legislative spending to 5.4%, the average increase in revenue in the state, an effort to average out the boom and bust years.

In Florida, the downturn in tax revenues has gotten so bad, that the Florida House has proposed suspending Hospice funding for the next two years. Lawmakers argue that the programs can be supplemented by localities and hospitals. It stands as just another lesson of the problems that stand to be created as states reduce the services they can offer as they aren't able to make Benjamin Franklin stretch in quite the way he used to.

Arkansas, too, is facing shortfalls, with the state legislature predicting that only 54% of the second-tier Class B spending will be funded in the coming year.

Sacralige

The damn French ruin everything and now they have put out the Olympic Torch.

Happy Beernaversity!

Its the anniversity of the end of prohibition in the United States.

The Wisconsin Crazy Goes Peaceably

After a long and, at times, crazy winter here in Wisconsin, it is good to see that, although people are losing their cool, there are times when the violent anti-government radicals can come to terms with authorities, even after exchanging gunfire and distinctly unfriendly tear gas. Way to go!

The Friday Bacon

Bacon burgers with egg salad and alfalfa sprouts on slices of wheat bread.

Ben Franklin Report: Quick Shots Across the Bow

Today will see Round 2 of top economic officials versus Congress! To the finish! For the first time yesterday Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke mentioned the dreaded "R" word, and it isn't radical or racism.

In the Wall Street Journal today, Andy Lapierre gives a thorough look at the ongoing credit crisis and the Fed's responsibility in causing asset bubbles, malinvestment, and labor dislocation through the "Greenspan put."

The President of the New York Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner is still worried about the state of capital markets, and has a plan to fix the regulatory overhang created by the Federal Reserve's new lending options. In an election year, the Fed has a steep hill to climb in justifying putting so many billions of tax payer dollars at risk. His testimony, though really boring to read, has a couple of gems firmly lodged into it. Like this:

The sudden discovery by Bear’s derivatives counterparties that important financial positions they had put in place to protect themselves from financial risk were no longer operative would have triggered substantial further dislocation in markets. This would have precipitated a rush by Bear’s counterparties to liquidate the collateral they held against those positions and to attempt to replicate those positions in already very fragile markets.

In short, we judged that a sudden, disorderly failure of Bear would have brought with it unpredictable but severe consequences for the functioning of the broader financial system and the broader economy, with lower equity prices, further downward pressure on home values, and less access to credit for companies and households.

In a sign that the credit crisis is spreading beyond the mortgage market where it first reared its ugly head, Americans are falling behind on every single type of loan.

And, for good measure, here are some anecdotal accounts of the muni bond problems. Public projects are being forced to sell bonds due to tighter and tighter budgets, but being handled on the other end by higher financing costs. Of course, in some cases, these are projects that will save money for the taxpayer.

Ben Franklin Report: Sober Up

This morning Ben Bernanke tried on a new role, that of a voice of reason to the financial markets. In testimony before Congress, Bernanke warned that the economy is still probably headed into a recession and that the American economy probably won't see growth until 2009. In pointing out the potential problem areas, the Fed Chairman rattled off a list of the biggest sections of the credit market. To be fair, his calculations account for a wide degree of volatility in the markets and an inability to forecast the future amidst this turmoil.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, while in his sixth visit to China to address outstanding economic issues between two largest economies in the world, took a step back from policy brinkmanship and indicated flexibility in using government money in addressing the crisis in the housing market. However, he revealed his true feelings on the matter in his disregard of those homeowners who are now suffering the phenomena "negative equity" in their homes. It remains to be seen whether this change of heart is a result of recognizing the benefits of government intervention in the marketplace or the windfall benefits the financial industry will receive in the event of any government intervention.

In perhaps some strange sort of April Fool's joke, the markets reacted exuberantly to UBS and Deutsche Bank writing down a combined $19 billion dollars and will seek to elicit almost as much capital investment. And the good news doesn't end there. The Commerce Department announced factory orders decreased 1.3% in February. When one considers the recent rise in unemployment, these numbers can be expected to go down further with a shrinking labor force. The IMF is predicting a significant downturn in the global economy, to understate the conclusion. Cleveland-based National City bank appears to be headed down the road to failure in the wake of the ongoing financial crisis. If they're hoping for a turnaround in the greater Cleveland area to cleanse their balance sheets to make a takeover more appealing, they can probably sooner expect a deux ex machina to show up at their headquarters in the form of a flying pig. The crux and source of the entire problem, the financial industry, is facing a slowdown for the entire year of 2008, in case that wasn't obvious.

In other news, it would appear that homeowner relief has gotten a rider of tax breaks for home builders. The only good side to this is that the provision probably won't cost the government much, as it will be shrinking revenue from a shrinking sector.

Cleveland Ohio; Terrible American City, Or The Worst American CIty?

The Cuyahoga county Board of Elections is debating what to do about people who voted in the primary. They think that many Republicans "crossed over" and voted for a Democratic candidate in the primary election without swearing a "loyalty oath" to the party. You see, the Democrats believe that these Republicans may have done so with the intention of throwing the election by voting for the candidate they believed could not win against McCain. That claim has a lot to do with what people knew and when they knew it. Hillary may have won in Ohio but it only became apparent recently that she has no legitimate chance of winning the Democratic nomination. They have decided not to issue subpoenas.

To me, this seems like sour grapes. The Democrats in power locally are upset that the candidate they favor was not selected by the voters. I don't see what they hope to accomplish by this. Even if they do take some of these people to trial, it wont change the election.

The real issue here is freedom, specifically Freedom of Speech. Fortunately the Secretary of State understands this. The questions I don't hear anyone asking assume there are only two party's. Fuck that noise.

Section 3513.19 of the Ohio Revised Code demands that each voter be affiliated with one political party and vote only in that party's primary election. One's affiliation is determined by examining what party the voter voted for in the prior two years. Silly me, I thought these were supposed to be secret elections to prevent persecution by zealous political party members from hunting down and disenfranchising opponents. Section 3513.05 has been interpreted by Bouse v. Cickelli 97 Ohio App. 43 (1954) as meaning that a voter is automatically affiliated with a political party by voting in that party's primary election until that voter takes some affirmative act to change that status. The real kicker is that if you are subpoenaed by the election gestapo, under section 3513.19 (B), you must swear an oath to the effect that you wish to be affiliated with and support the principles of the political party whose primary ballot you wish to vote on.

What if you are independent and don't ever want to be affiliated with any party? What if the previous statement is true and you genuinely want to vote for the candidate in the primary that you feel would be the best president? In Ohio, apparently they are like McCain in that they value party loyalty over principle and freedom.

Here is the bottom line, failing to make this required oath or making it and then if it is somehow found to be false by the freedom haters that enforce this law, is a felony and carries with it a huge fine. In most states, felons cannot vote or own weapons, making this a really good way to disenfranchise voters. You just look at the records, pick out some cross over voters from the other party and stamp them as felons, thereby ensuring the purity of your party and the inability of any other party from getting votes in the future. This also discourages people from switching party's. However, not showing up to your hearing to make this insane oath is a misdemeanor. See sections 3599.36-.37

You can take the following as my affirmative act and public deceleration. I hereby refuse any affiliation with any political party that I do not expressly request. I further reject the principles of any political party that would accept my forced or assumed allegance.

Throw Him in the Volcano!

Yesterday, the Bush administration offered up a sacrificial lamb to the gods of public perception with the resignation of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. However, it looks like the priests of public opinion in the old media have not taken the bait. Clearly, some blame rests with the crony that was ostensibly responsible for the housing sector. The real fiasco for this secretary was in its Katrina response that was just as bad as the rest of this administration. Like most resignations of Bush appointees the best question to ask is, "Why now? Why not two years ago?"