Ben Franklin Report: the Buttered Side

Even though the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in the Middle Kingdom has announced $1.2 billion in exposure to the subprime crisis, there may yet be a silver lining. Considering that the Bank of China, number two in terms of amount of exposure in China, announced that they might post a loss on the year on such transactions, the executives at the ICBC are obviously re-examining the fundamental risk beneath the AAA-rated financial instruments behind the ongoing crisis.

There are still a couple of good opportunities out there in the world of finance for even the most bearish investor. If you are looking for banks that have strong fundamentals, no exposure to the subprime crisis, and are being sold at bargain prices, look no farther than Scandanavian banks. Or, if you are completely risk-averse and require underlying assets to your investment, perhaps you should consider Islamic banking, like in Malaysia.

Here in the U.S., the economy has risen to the tip of everyone's tongues. In hard-hit California, candidates are pitching their message to whoever will listen. In Massachusetts, the State is bringing civil suit against Merrill Lynch, seeking profits from selling the aforementioned AAA-rated credit instruments, collateralized debt obligations to Springfield, Massachusetts. And there are one or two more thoughts floating around about the planned economic stimulus moving through Congress.

A Few Poor Analogies

Congratulations to the New York Giants on what was at times, the second most boring Super Bowl Game ever and an awesome display of athletic ability! Would you take the result of this titanic struggle and equate the upset Giants win as a "good omen" for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections? Considering her years as a Washington insider whose praises cannot be sung enough by the mainstream media, I find that analogy to be thin to the point of microscopic. Hillary, apparently, isn't a fan herself, as no true fan would take a work-related conference call in the middle of the game. Another bad metaphor could potentially be Hillary supports LGBT rights like marching activists.

Another mistaken metaphor would equate everyone's favorite pariah relative-type Presidential candidate, Mike Gravel, with others who have epitomized the Democratic process and fell out of the race due to a lack of money. Sen. Gravel is still alive and well and contemplating an independent run to the White House, but is still at work in the Bay Area in the run up to California's primary, one of 24 on Super Tuesday. Which, of course, brings us to another mistaken metaphor, that the author is liberal like the Clintons. It seems strange to agree with a conservative pundit.

Another potentially mistake metaphor is McCain is as left as Hillary Clinton, as Mitt Romney would have conservative voters believe.

The Friday Bacon

Ben Franklin Report: Consequences

Observable in most economic aggregates of data, there is a form of statistical lag, which is how long it takes those who count to count the count that they choose to count. This phenomenon is acutely visible in the most recent jobs report, which is accompanied by a downward revision of data from December, to the tune of 376,000 jobs in the level of employment. According to the latest figures, the economy lost about 17,000 jobs in January. There is a large disparity, according to the aforementioned story, in the number of jobs expected and those that actually were, wherein lies the statistical lag. If one can assume that there is a two month lag in the system when it comes to employment figures, how will they look two months from now? In my opinion, the stock market could come to reflect the 2003 levels of the job market, depending on the fundamental strength of the U.S. Dollar, because it is all about the Benjamins. The reporter, Rex Nutting, Washington Bureau Chief for MarketWatch, covering the jobs report also says hard times are coming, starting, "The last pillar to hide behind has fallen. Jobs are being lost in the U.S. economy."

Speaking of, the dollar isn't seen to be in the best shape, having lost ground against most of the major currencies since the beginning of the year, such as the Euro and the Yen. Canada's Dollar is enjoying the benefits of a difference in interest rates, again stronger than the American greenback. Of course, the U.S. Dollar is continuing it's increasingly not so gradual slide against the Chinese Yuan (RMB).

In a minor aside, the subprime crisis is continuing to develop in an international way. The latest casualty of the curious lending practices is Mizuho Financial Group, to the tune of $3.2 Billion. In a sign that the subprime crisis is going to spread into other sectors of the economy, pharmaceutical giants like Bristol-Myers Squibb and IT tech companies like Ciena Corp. are posting writedowns on subprime investments. Moody's is predicting that the subprime loss could amount to 85% of all such loans made, their CEO blames flawed models. It looks like the State of Florida is going to blame Countrywide Financial Corp, and the FBI is looking at 14 companies and counting. Alan Greenspan is trying to deflect blame from his time in office. In an exercise of States' Rights, states are refusing to take on the burden of refinancing subprime mortgages, a primary part of Bush's economic crisis recovery plan. And, also, there's video goodness, as Jon Stewart talks about the economy.

The Mainstream Media

What is the Mainstream Media? How often do people think about this phrase? Does it have a commonly accepted definition? Why is there such a problem with what is commonly referred to as the Mainstream Media? All of your questions answered, but first a message from our sponsors.



Without a doubt, the Mainstream Media is one of the buzzwords of our modern society, with close to 11 million results on a Google Search, and its own convenient acronym to use with blogging, MSM. Interestingly, 'mainstream media' doesn't return any results on Google Trends, but MSM does, as it apparently means something in Spanish. But somewhere between the opinions of Noam Chomsky, the Wikipedia page on Mass Media, and the homepage of the Mainstream Media Project, lies a very tangible effect that I think we've already seen a little of. Coming up, how the MSM impacts your daily life, but first a message from one of our sponsors!



As Charlie Savage pointed out in the Boston Globe, which, as of printing is one of only a handful of mainstream news media outlets to publish anything about this most recent signing statement. Some bloggers and organizations, however, have taken issue with Bush trying to impose a foreign policy upon the next President. Bush, of course, is doing nothing but acting in a unilateral fashion.

The '08 Election Trail: Dispatch the Bloodhounds

Thanks to Russian TV, here is a Mike Gravel sighting.



For those of you watching at home, there is a second recall in progress, of sorts, in New Hampshire. Despite strange bureaucratic maneuverings on the part of the Secretary of State, votes are being recounted and some strange discrepencies in the voting process and chain of custody are being addressed. Black Box Voting has more. Then, Bill Maher's round table about election fraud with Tony Snow, amongst others. Finally, a ghost of the 2004 election comes back to rattle chains and remind us all why voting in general is, ultimately, fairly useless.

“Big Brother“ 應該怎麽翻譯？

If you think concerns about GPS positioning in cell phones is scary in a tin foil hat kind of way, or you're concerned about a few hundred thousand Social Security Numbers being inadvertently disclosed by Wisconsin state agencies, you might have read George Orwell's "nineteen eighty-four". Wang Jianzhou (王建宙）, head of China Mobile, made quite a splash at a panel about the future of cell phones, with the very literal disclosure, "We know where you are." Sure, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, looking to break into the cell phone market, has every right to be enthusiastic about location-based advertising, but the definition of privacy has slightly different meaning in Chinese. For instance, in the first Legal Dictionary published in Chinese after the the opening up of the Chinese marketplace and the liberalization of state regulation (改革開放)　in 1980，the only mention of privacy (隱私) relates to the privacy concerns in the case of rape of other illicit sexual activity. Admittedly, a lot can happen in the 30 years, for instance, China has become an economic superpower with a maturing discourse in civil society. A tightly disciplined form of protest against the problems of development are being demonstrated with increasing regularity, for instance, the ongoing maglev protests in Shanghai.

Congressman Edward Markey (MA - 7th) and Sony CEO Howard Stringer stand on the other side of the issue here in the United States. I, however, still sleep comfortable and content in the knowledge that the Bill of Rights will protect me from an overly intrusive government intent on invading commonly accepted and legally protected norms of telecommunications privacy. Ooops. Rep. Markey, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Log Cabin, wouldn't agree with that statement. On Friday, the Senate voted 60-36 to reject re-writing the laws governing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, no matter how much Sen. Harry Reid wanted to to get Bush a bill before the February 1st deadline.

With 6 million new subscribers every month China Mobile has a significant share of the Chinese cell phone market,　and plans to list on a mainland stock exchange in the near future.　China Mobile covers their liability by mentioning in their privacy policy published online (中文) that government coercion is one reason your privacy could be violated.

The Walk Of Shame

Again, a conservative politician turns up violating the same morality he crams down other peoples throats. Did you ever notice, its the people who don't go around making a big deal about sexual ethics, that are the most moral?

What Would You Do?

They probably zapped this guy to stop the horror. Same question as usual; in this situation did the taser save lives or was it a crutch?

Space: The Public Relations Frontier

NASA is seeking input from the gamer community on a space MMORPG. Initially this strikes me as pretty awesome. I would be totally interisted in a realistic depiction of contamporary space exploration. Thats why I play with Celestia. My second thought is that this is an effort by NASA to build up public support in light of the bad press they have been getting in the last few years. I find it hard to be too upset for them being savvy and pragmatic about P.R. but I can't help but feel like they could better spend their efforts on making improvements where things have been going wrong rather than allocating resources to seeming cool to the nerds.

Free The West Memphis Three

Here is an article that vaguely describes a funds sharing agreement between the defendants. I just want to draw attention to the cost of justice in America. Toward the middle of the article the cost of the DNA testing that may exonerate them is listed at over $100,000. Thats just the cost of DNA testing without all the litigation and cost of incarcaration. The cost of keeping them in jail must be included because if they are aquitted then the state has wasted taxpayer money on the results of a sham trial on unreliable prosecution, and sloppy police work. The reason even the most selfish, cold-hearted person should care about truth in justice is the cost. If and when these men are found innocent they will be able to file a civil suit against the government that wrongfully imprisoned them for all these years. These cases always result in huge jury awards for the wronged person, and they should. The reason you should care that even the guilty get a strong defense is that money to compensate the exonerated takes away from your roads and schools.

The Friday Bacon

Recipe for bacon wrapped scallops.

Another Example

Is this Torture? Is it reprehensible? Were the police acting in an official capacity if they weren't charged?

Bad Apples

In way similar to, but probably not as reprehensible as the torturers of Abu Ghraib prison, police officers, as we have tried to bring attention to, have been accused of torturing suspects in an effort to coerce compliance.

In one of the most brazen acts of political sabotage I have ever seen, even if it was a Hillary Clinton event, two Bibb County, Georgia, officers threatened attendees of the event to disperse or be tased. So, apparently, the event had almost 150% more people than had signed up for the event, and the crowd outside must have been pretty boisterous. Regardless of my objection to making people register to come to a political event, these two officers were not merely being "discourteous," but were actively engaged in violations of constitutional rights. I mean, we do still have the freedom of assembly, right? The two officers are apparently highly decorated, and in typical good ol' boys fashion, won't even receive a suspension with pay.

A similar incident happened in Vancouver, BC, last night with the Queen's representative in Canada, Governor-General Michelle Jean is being met with anger and protests as she tours the province. As the Governor-General was meeting with local leaders on ways to combat violence, police were outside tasering a protester who got too pushy.

Another alleged bad apple is Corporal Rudy Torres of Frederick County, Maryland. Demonstrating that statistical discrepencies are usually reflective of underlying trends, this particular police force has been disproportionately enthusiastic about using their taser devices, and Corp Torres has under his belt more than 10% of the total use of the department, out of a total of 218 times using 171 tasers in 2007. A more typical rate of use based on these numbers would be more like .6% of all taser uses. One can only hope that the litigation surrounding the death of 20-year old Jarrel Gray sees some justice done.

In an example of messy reality conflicting with a very controlled situation, and the resulting conflicting legality, an Orange County man, described as having a condition that impairs his thinking, is tasered in the course of being subdued (with video badness) by officers, and was later cited for battery on a law enforcement officer with violence. However, if the person can't be held responsible for their own actions, what legal responsibility does this place onto the officer to prevent harm? For instance, why aren't law enforcement officers trained in more mediation and jujitsu?

What is torture? In Toronto, Canada, the founder of Taser International, Thomas Smith, offers some clever spin on the nature of the Taser. “'We were taught electricity is bad,' said Smith. 'Don’t put your finger in the socket. But really, electricity is life.'” Regardless of how true the statement may or may not be, it is ultimately irrelevant. Later, out comes another particularly wonderful example of the straw man logical fallacy.

When one deputant said the UN has expressed concern that taser use is tantamount to torture, Smith objected. “We don’t want to see torturous devices used,” he said. “But if the UN is going to define torture as causing pain, then a baton is torture, stepping on a nail is torture.”

Except the standard for torture is far more robust than Mr. Smith is protraying it. The definition for torture in the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Degrading Treatment or Punishment is as follows, italics added for emphasis.

Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

Wake Up Sir, Its Time For Your Tasing

This article describes a law suit resulting from a police tasing. The facts alleged in the suit are as follows. The police busted into his own home, found him sleeping on his own couch, and assuming he was armed, and an immidiate threat because he was snoring, they zaped him. This man managed to identify himself as the lawfull resident of the dwelling and the cops decided he needed to be tazed a couple more times to be sure. They then draged him down to the station locked him up and slandered him in public.

My favorite parts of the article are where its stuck in at the end that he was not charged with possession of pot by the cops who brutalized him. They had enough legal sense to determine it was discovered in an illegal search. My other favorite part is where the police chief explains to us that if the cops don't have tazers they would have to peperspray and beat us when they bust into homes and assault the peacefull, lawfull residents of the home. George Washington shot people over this kind of shit.

Ben Franklin Report: the Economic Stimulus

In the course of putting together their bipartisan economic stimulus package together, Congressional Democrats are willing to put aside something as small as the rule of law. After all, it wouldn't be prudent to try to bring contempt citations against former White House officials during the middle of negotiations, nonetheless the mountain of lies that led up to the Iraq War.

Bush hasn't outlined his plan, per se, just given a rough outline, namely a "robust" package with a $150 billion price tag. All of the key players in Washington have some version of the stimulus on their wish list, and each has already staked out his or her position on the matter. The Republicans and Democrats in Congress are pondering how to bridge the philosophical divide between individual tax rebates and decreasing business taxes. Lou Dobbs, ever the interested observer, says that the economy is going into a recession and there isn't much that a stimulus could hope to accomplish.

Of course, the presidential candidates of both parties aren't to be left out of the fray, each of them is sticking their pole into a position. We can probably expect to see more of the petty bickering among the Democratic candidates that they've exemplified so far. What they hope to accomplish using the decade-old "No Friends in Politics" mindset that has gotten us so far over the course of Republican control of the Congress. The only candidate who is actively against the stimulus is the one candidate who isn't officially running, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-$$$$) of New York City, who sees the giveaway as bad fiscal policy.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office is seeing the glass as more than half full. Focusing more on the $219 billion dollar deficit that the government has run so far this year, and predicting that the economy won't hit recession levels.

Regardless of how I otherwise disagree with Mayor Bloomberg's politics, I find his position the most reasonable. With another year of phenomenal deficit in the face of countervailing trends, this drop into the general economy will prime the markets for further spending, if the authors of the agreement see their dreams come to fruition. I remain skeptical. With the further aggravation of the deficit, this will further aggravate the U.S. National Debt, and contribute to a worsening macroeconomic situation. On Aug. 9, 2009, by my rough calculations, the clock will turn over to $10 trillion dollars, or roughly the same as our annual GDP, barring additional spending or the unlikely attempt to pay it down.

As another reminder on why not to put off anything, negotiations are over and the stimulus package has been assembled. Unfortunately, workers who earned less than $75K or couples who earned less than $150K, will earn approximately $300 and $1200, respectively. This little drop is hardly likely to inspire the next bubble, unless it's for pharmaceuticals; breweries, wineries, and distilleries; or for local head shops.

Again, Downloading Does Not Hurt Sales

Here is an article describing the reaction in the blogosphere to the admission form the MPAA that they had exaggerated the percentage of their profit losses that stems from illegal movie downloading. Like the RIAA these people use heavy handed and potentially illegal harassment tactics. The movie industry also attempted to place the blame for its falling profits on the video gaming industry. They fail to accept the reality that what they are producing is not entertaining. They are at least not entertaining enough for a person to pick up their twenty dollars, lug its moral weight out to their car, drive to the cineplex and hand that hard-earned money to the stoned high school drop out behind the terrorist proof glass. Ooh and what a variety of equeally attractive choices the temple to Hollywood offers. Should you select, 27 dresses? Over her dead body? National Treasure? Juno? Mad Money? Water Horse? The Bucket List? Untraceable? Cloverfield? Rambo? Oh the choices do go on and on. How can you pick? I think the only reason people actually go to these movies is because they have terribly depressing lives that if they were to think about their life at all they would be compelled to suicde. Even the commercials for these movies make me tear at my own flesh. Given the choice between National Treasure and death, I suppose I would go to National Treasure. Oh and don't forget the fucking recession.

Go Ahead, Move to Canda!: Did Someone Say "NEW ONGOING SERIES"?

In the establishment's perpetual search for power, they have used many a tact in suppressing dissent, and suring up their base. Though it is possible to imprison or murder the dissenters, that takes time, money, lives, effort, etc. There are also risks. The imprisoned or assassinated victims can become martyrs, and blowback occurs. (Though you can never forget about intentionally cause blowback to increase the disorder and chaos in an area to create grounds for heavy force.) Well, one of my favorite ways to get rid of dissent is to offer the dissenters a way out.

I was recently watching the movie "The Unbearable Likeness of Being," with the badass Daniel Day Lewis and the juicy Juliette Binoche. In it they play a brain surgeon and budding photographer living in Prague in 1968. A gold star for the first kid who said, "Isn't that during the Prague Spring?" This is where the Communist, sorry, evil Ruskies came marching in and took control with an Iron Fist. Demonstrations, riots, and general public dissent ensued. Juliette Binoche even took a couple pictures of excessive Russian military practices. Of course it didn't take long for the "secret police" to find her and her pictures, and start making her life difficult. What to do, what to do? Stay around and fight the oppression? Stand your ground and fight for you and your fellow man's rights? Naw, fuck that, they left. They packed up and left. There was then an important scene. Instead of there being a difficult process of escape it was simply a matter of heading to a Russian sanctioned border checkpoint and waving to the soldiers as they headed to Switzerland.

Now the first thought that popped into my head was, why the hell are the Russians letting all of these, though dissenting, talented, valuable human resources leave? If they are so evil, why give them a chance to live in the happy free Switzerland, where the trains only run on time because they made the watches. Well then it dawned on me, and really put domestic events into perspective for me. They let them leave because they are trouble. They were making their occupation easier by getting rid of the people who give a shit.

Let's look to America at this time. A quick Wikipedia check will show you that...(I am actually doing some minor research for a blog, woo is me) 100,000 American men went abroad to avoid service in Vietnam, with 50,000 - 90,000 going to Canada. Initially, Canada didn't want a bunch of American immigrating into their country (we should be able to empathize with concerns about southern border immigration.) However, Canada eventually welcomed them, probably after the US told them we will allow them back in at a later date. Oh, and sure enough we did.

So, America was waging not only an unjust war abroad, but at the same time, the establishment was being fought with over many issues, namely civil rights. Forcing people into service, or anything for that matter, who really don't want to do it can incite rebellion. What better way to quell any serious threat to the establishment than to "allow" 100,00 pissed off young men (all fit for service) to leave. And then someone had the great idea to invite these people back, because not only are they a valuable human resource, but they are sure to be pretty tame now that the man "showed them kindness."

Every member of the counter culture or urban radical out there has heard someone say "I'll move to Canada when shit really hits the fan." As if Canada is some sort of magical safe fallback option for when America really becomes fascist. Hell, I bet there are a ton of ex-pats who have left already, to Canada or Europe, because they think America already is an oppressive state. It is to these yellow-bellied, selfish, all talk no walk, used to be but no longer am dissenters that I dedicate this NEW ONGOING SERIES:

Mark Emery, the Prince of Pot, is founder of the BC Marijuana Party and successful marijuana seed distributor. In 2005, he was arrested by Canadian law enforcement, under pressure from the Yanks, along with two others for selling these seeds. It is almost an never enforced law in Canada (to Canada's credit) though there are some laws on the books. The U.S. wanted him extradited to our country to face our stricter anti-drug legal system. A recent plea deal in the case means that Emery, but not his two compatriots, will serve 5-10 years in prison. Though Canada did not blindly hand him over to the U.S., they did allow a foreign agency to interpret their own laws, dictate the resources and actions of their police, sway the Canadian judicial system, and spend Canadian tax payer dollars all to enforce a victimless crime for political reasons. Emery may still do some of his prison time in the U.S., but that is yet to be determined.

Canada, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I liked you, I really did. But you're no better than u.s. You give in to the bully. You question your own values. You are willing to hurt an innocent human for what? And to you people out there wanting to move to Canada, where will you move when Canada and the U.S. have the same laws and law enforcement under the banner of the North American Union; when you could spent this whole time fighting the establishment instead of spending all that damn time packing and unpacking your fucking dishes you got from Pier One.

Video Flashback

To touch upon the John McCain issue, I would like to present a few video examples. Over the course of four years, Sen. McCain flipfloped in the worst way, and became a sound machine for the very political machine that tried to destroy his reputation in South Carolina and defame his character for a singular act of kindness. Maybe if John McCain can win in the state that still flies the stars and bars of the confederacy, then there really is hope for humanity after all. My guess is that McCain's neoconservative credentials appealed to the deeply conservative southern states. The real test for the Republicans is Florida, but more on that later. Enjoy some video goodness!

More Wild Dogs and Police Brutality

Cops beat up an old man in a wheelchair. And Yes that is a wild dog roaming the streets of Cleveland.