tdog

On this final day of February, I offer you this graphic depiction of United States revenue and expenses by somewhat controversial financial world figure Henry Blodget. It notes that for 2010 fiscal year, U.S. revenue was approximately $2.2 trillion, against expenses of $3.5 trillion (the article doesn’t say it, but GDP is estimated at around $14.7 trillion). It’s an interesting chart– I for one, thought that interest on the debt was a much larger chunk of the budget; it does explain why the Fed has been so desperate to keep interest rates so low for so long, of course. Mr....

The mirth and merriment that seems to be re-shaping Middle Eastern governments at far greater speed and lower cost (especially human cost) than American imposed mass-homicide ever did (or could)… has reached Libya. Some reports show hundreds dead and the Libyan parliament building ablaze as Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi (the man of a thousand spellings) appears to have fled Tripoli… for points unknown. Meanwhile, in a hopefully less violent comparison, this Weekly Standard piece asks a most interesting question, to wit, given general Democratic support for the effective shut-down of the Wisconsin government to protest Republican budget cuts (which, of...

You’all know my view on where we’re headed… the only question (if it’s even that relevant anymore) is how fast we’ll get there, collectively. As individuals, some of us may reach it sooner than others… but… For those not reading Dmitry Orlov… he’s pretty much the one guy out there who’s putting the various world and domestic events and trends in context, such as his latest post, “Ron Paul Joins the Collapse Party.” We are really rapidly coming to the point where Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale may be a tad too optimistic. Item: key American ally (and home of...

After saying “happy Valentine’s Day,” we’ll start with a visit to Yemen, where street protests against the government (on a somewhat modest scale, as around 1,000 or so protestors are reported) continue for the for the fourth straight day. Yemen has fairly tight command and control– at least in this area– and few doubt that should the order be given, police and troops would open fire on protestors without a second thought. Because of “domestic concerns,” Yemeni president Saleh has canceled a scheduled visit to the United States later in the month. I really want to make that point as...

Happy birthday, Abraham Lincoln. But for that bastard John Wilkes Booth, Honest Abe would be 202 years old today. But that’s not important right now… The Grey Lady treats us to this dicussion of the two man military junta ruling council that will babysit Egypt for the foreseeable future until a new constitution and elections can be implemented. On the one hand, I’d like to think we’ve seen a popular revolution unfold in front of us– well-intentioned, well-organized street mobs brought down a dictatorship. Of course, Mubarak holds the rank of air marshall and Sulayman has the rank of general…...

And so, just days after signalling that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak must unconditionally go, and take his ruling apparatus with him, today… the position of the United States (as expressed by the much put-upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) is that Mr. Mubarak should resign immediately in favor of Vice President Suleiman, who in turn should supervise a transition to… something democratic, whatever that is. Fortunately for the stability of the world… the rest of the world seems to regard American pronouncements as… utterly irrelevant. One hopes that something is going on “behind the scenes”… but one doubts the institutional...

Once again, we’re not talking about the nebulous promise of “more better teachers and sh**” that the President “put out there” at the State of the Union (didn’t watch it; just heard the highlights and all)… we’re talking about the situation breaking out all over the Arab world now, which has already brought down the government of Tunisia, has caused the Egyptian strongman and American ally Hosni Mubarak’s police to fire on protesters in Cairo, killing at least one thus far and injuring who knows how many others, and protests have broken out in Yemen as well, and even Jordan...

No, not the State of the Union which, to be frank, I utterly ignored (though I did walk in on Rep. Ryan’s non-response response playing on the radio… which I did my best to ignore as well)… but tonight’s event in Berkeley (go if you’re anywhere near there; watch otherwise), details as described by Candace here. Almerindo sends Facebook info, here. The event will not just feature my friends Candace (interviewed by me here) and Almerindo (interviewed by me here), but a live-feed from England with former GTMO detainee Omar Deghayes. While I haven’t met Omar, the simple humanity of...

Well, one here in New York could have such a reaction to the valiant second-half efforts of the New York Jets to come back from the immense hole they dug themselves, but still came up short losing to Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-19; the Steel Curtain will play the upstart Green Bay Packers in Dallas in two weeks for the Big Enchilada at Super Bowl XLV… where was I? For further deep sighs, Candace reports that her client Razak Ali has lost his habeas petition at the District Court level; Andy has more on this, and all matters GTMO…. The great Carol...

I join those who applaud the President’s decision to loosen (albeit inadequately and pathetically, but it’s still something)… er, loosen travel restrictions to Cuba. The move allows some minor increase in remittances and increased access for direct travel to Cuba for church groups and students and so forth… and the move goes in the direction of letting any American who wants to travel to Cuba do so (you probably can now, though you have to do so “unofficially” without a passport stamp and through an entry point other than the United States, such as Mexico or another Caribbean country). I...