detainees at guantanamo bay Archives

What's going on – Evening News RoundUp

Monday Evening News Roundup

Brookshire Hathaway, the investment group led by Warren Buffett, posted a third-quarter profit of $1.06 billion. This was a net income decrease by 77%. It is the fourth straight quarter of profit loss, but it must be understood that they made a profit. It was just less profit than they’ve made in the past.

Political Animal’s Hilzoy had a nice post this morning on trusting Barack Obama. Personally, I believe that Barack Obama will have trouble from the left and from the right. He will not be liberal enough for the left and he won’t be conservative enough for the right.

Barack Obama and his advisers are working on a plan to close Guantánamo Bay, which needed to be done two years ago. Well, to be honest, Guantánamo Bay should never have been opened as the come one, come all detention center for folks we had no idea what to do with. We should have spent the intellectual capital to figure out the problem.
China is planning a massive investment in its own infrastructure. They are looking at $586 billion worth of investment.

Senator Harry Reid seem to be supporting Joe Lieberman, while at the same time speaking out relatively strongly against Senator Ted Stevens. The Lieberman saga continues.

Al Franken continues to narrow his deficit against incumbent Senator Norm Coleman. Franken now trails by only 204 votes.

Governor Howard Dean plans to step down as chair of the Democratic National Committee. I guess when all the pundits said you were wrong and foolish to believe in a 50-state strategy and you prove that the pundits were, beyond a shadow of a doubt, all morons…yep, it is time to step down.

MSNBC has extended Keith Olbermann’s contract and has given him any “healthy” raise. Congratulations, Keith.

By ecthompsonmd|2008-11-10T18:23:08-04:00November 10th, 2008|Civil Liberty, Countdown, Election 2008, Legal, Party Politics|Comments Off

What's Going On – News Roundup

Tuesday evening news Roundup

I am not sure what we did by giving Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion to spend. The stock market isn’t happy. The stock market fell approximately 5% today. So far in 2008, the stock market has lost 32% of its value. This is the worst loss in value since 1937. Want more dire warnings? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has hinted that the Fed may lower interest rates. I thought that low interest rates were one of the reasons we got into this problem!
Hedge funds, on average, lost over 4% in September. Early trading in Asian markets looks like the bad news is going to continue.
With the Food and Drug Administration looming over their heads, the pharmaceutical companies that make pediatric cough and cold remedies have voluntarily agreed to want that their products should not be used for children under four. Recent studies have suggested these remedies do not help young children.
More bad news for the John McCain camp. New intelligence estimates suggest that sectarian violence could break out at any time in Iraq. In spite of John McCain’s proclamation that we have won, the national intelligence estimate states that “victory” is not certain. Of course, this should be obvious to anyone who’s paid any attention over the last five years.
17 Chinese born Muslims that have been detained in Guantánamo Bay for over six years have been ordered to be released by a US federal judge.
One of the best heavyweight bouts is not being shown on HBO. Wells Fargo and Citibank are battling over Wachovia. Towards the end of last week, Citigroup had stepped in to buy Wachovia Bank. From out of nowhere, Wells Fargo came up with a different and possibly better offer. An announcement was made that Wachovia would be sold to Wells Fargo. Citibank filed an injunction. The battle is continuing behind closed doors. By the way, did you notice that Bank of America, the bank that bought Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, reported a 68% drop in their revenues compared to last year’s third quarter?

By ecthompsonmd|2008-10-07T20:34:27-04:00October 7th, 2008|Economy, Iraq, National Intelligence Estimate|Comments Off

McCain the Flip-flop King

The Cartpetbagger Report has compiled an impressive list of position reversals for John McCain: Sixty-one flip-flops and still counting!

From TCR:

National Security Policy

1. McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.

2. McCain insisted that everyone, even “terrible killers,” “the worst kind of scum of humanity,” and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, “deserve to have some adjudication of their cases,” even if that means “releasing some of them.” McCain now believes the opposite.

3. He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”

4. In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.

5. McCain was for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before he was against it.

6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani mountains with predators, McCain criticized him for it. He’s since come to the opposite conclusion.

Foreign Policy

7. McCain was for kicking Russia out of the G8 before he was against it.

8. McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.

9. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.

10. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.

11. McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.

12. McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.

13. McCain was against divestment from South Africa before he was for it. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2008-07-08T17:39:09-04:00July 8th, 2008|Election 2008|1 Comment