Politics Blog

You probably have to try pretty hard to have these continued and staggering losses:

The New York Times Co. posted a $648 million loss for the fourth quarter on Wednesday as it absorbed an $814.4 million charge to write down the value of its struggling New England properties, The Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
The company said the non-cash charge reflected declines in current and projected results at the newspapers, which have been hit hard by the consolidations of key advertisers in the New England area as well as greater competition from online media.

The company originally paid $1.1 billion for the Globe in 1993 and $296 million for the Worcester paper in 2000.

The Times reported a loss amounting to $4.50 a share for the October- December period. It earned $63.1 million, or 43 cents a share, a year ago.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

— The Ace

I kid you not: 75,000 protest tortilla prices in Mexico

“Calderon stole the elections, and now he’s stealing the tortillas!”

I guess he has a warehouse full of them at the presidential palace…

— PoliPundit

I heart hooverville:

Know what’s really impressive about today’s boffo 3.5 percent GDP growth number for the fourth quarter? It wasn’t so long ago that Wall Street economists were wondering if the number would be a “one-handle”–meaning growth between 1.0 and 1.9 percent. And instead of a “hard or “soft” landing, investment pros are now talking about a “growth scare” where a surprisingly robust economy would push the Federal Reserve into raising interest rates.
…
Here is MKM Partners economist Michael Darda:

Our indicators suggest that the outlook for the labor market is stronger than anytime since the late 1960s, when the unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent on a sustained basis. Weakness in profits and high real interest rates undermined the tight labor market of 1999–2000, whereas profits are much stronger today while real rates are much lower. In other words, monetary policy is much more accommodative now than it was before the last recession, which put an end to the tightest labor markets in 40 years. In fact, the profit and productivity backdrop is stronger now than it was during the first 20 quarters of the 1961–1969 expansion. … We thus expect unemployment to drop below 4 percent during 2007.

— The Ace

How’s this for fiscal responsibility?

The 286-140 vote — with 57 Republicans voting in favor — was a pleasant surprise for Democrats who expected far less GOP support. The $463.5 billion spending bill had much to please the rank and file, including Republican moderates, even though it contained no pet projects for their districts. “The content is a heck of a lot better than most expected we’d come up with,” said the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. He worked with his Senate counterpart, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to add money for initiatives popular with both Democrats and Republicans.
…
They were especially pleased with a $260 boost, to $4,310, in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students, and with a 40 percent increase, to $4.5 billion, for fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis overseas.

And here I thought they would attempt to balance the budget given all the pre-election rhetoric about “record deficits” and such.

And I’m real happy more federal tax dollars are going to help “the children” extend their adolescence for 5 years after high-school (do people even realize that about 51% of college students graduate within five years of initial enrollment, and most others don’t graduate?). Lovely.

Powerline points out some of the earmarks.

— The Ace

No talent liberal hack Al Franken will run for Senate against Norm Coleman:

WASHINGTON — Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said Wednesday.

Franken told the official, who did not want to be identified because Franken has not made an announcement, that he had decided to run in a recent conversation.

“He told me he was running,” said the official.

Andy Barr, the political director of Franken’s Midwest Values Political Action Committee, declined to comment.

The news was not unexpected. Franken has been calling members of the Minnesota congressional delegation to get their input on a run, and he announced this week that he would be leaving his show on Air America Radio on Feb. 14. He told listeners he would be making a decision on a race soon.

In a swiftly issued statement, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey said he was confident Minnesotans “will reject Franken’s divisive, scorched earth attacks.”

Should he win the Democratic primary in Minnesota, Franken would take on Republican Norm Coleman, a first-term senator who is among the Democrats’ top targets.

The debates should be awesome. Al Franken is known to become enraged very easily when he is losing a debate, (which is always), and it is a sight to behold.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

This is getting unbelievable. On every issue, President Bush sounds more and more like a Democrat:

President Bush yesterday said there is a growing “income inequality” gap between rich and poor Americans, and told companies they should rethink the giant compensation packages they offer top executives.
The markedly populist message, a divergence from the past, in which Mr. Bush has accused critics of practicing class warfare, was all the more noteworthy given his venue – a speech at Federal Hall in New York, in the middle of Wall Street, the capital of capitalism.

Barney Frank made almost the exact same point a few weeks ago.

But wait, all is not lost, President Bush thinks the answer is found with a conservative solution:

But the president called for conservative market-based answers, including demanding that Congress renew trade-promotion authority, which allows him to negotiate trade agreements then present them to Congress in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion.
Mr. Bush said he expects a bruising debate before his current trade-promotion authority expires July 1.
“Bashing trade can make for good sound bites on the evening news,” Mr. Bush said. “But walling off America from world trade would be a disaster for our economy. Congress needs to reject protectionism.”
In what was billed as his update on the state of the U.S. economy, Mr. Bush took credit for the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, promised to submit a budget next week that eliminates the deficit in 2012, and asked Congress to give him a version of line-item veto authority.

As long as it’s not ‘compassionate conservatism.’

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Virginia on verge of passing an apology for slavery measure:

Virginia moved forward on Wednesday to apologize for slavery, something no president or legislature has done.

The Virginia House Rules Committee unanimously approved a measure that expresses “profound regret” for the state’s role in the slave trade and other injustices against African-Americans and Native Americans.

The original proposal by Del. Donald McEachin, a Democrat, called for “atonement.”

“This is a good first step,” says McEachin, whose great-grandfather Archie was a slave.

He says the wording was changed because some lawmakers said an apology could lead to reparations, or cash payments, to descendants of slaves.

He says the bill, though softened, is important as Virginia celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English settlement and an entry point for African slaves.

A proposal in the state Senate expressing “profound contrition” won unanimous approval from a subcommittee Monday.

House Speaker William Howell expects both chambers to pass the measure, says his spokesman, G. Paul Nardo. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn Feb. 24.

Congress has apologized to Japanese-Americans held in camps during World War II. President Clinton, in Uganda in 1998, said U.S. participation in the slave trade was “wrong.”

An apology alone does not heal wounds, says Bruce Gordon, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He says it’s important to recognize past wrongs, but it’s more essential to fix lingering racial inequities.

1- First admit guilt.
2- Watch the lawsuits pile up
3- Reparations anyone ?

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Or in this case, his campaign managers wife:

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor’s office, City Hall sources said.

Alex Tourk, 39, who served as Newsom’s deputy chief of staff before becoming his campaign manager in September, confronted the mayor after his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday’s meeting.

Rippey-Tourk, 34, was the mayor’s appointments secretary from the start of his administration in 2004 until last spring. She told her husband that the affair with Newsom was short-lived and happened about a year and a half ago, while the mayor was undergoing a divorce from his then-wife, Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, said the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified.

Has a “Kennedy” moment:

Reports of the affair come at a particularly sensitive time for Newsom, who is embarking on his campaign for re-election in November. The mayor’s personal life has come under scrutiny in recent weeks. In December, several witnesses at a late Friday night vigil for a mortally wounded police officer at San Francisco General Hospital reported that Newsom appeared to have been drinking when he arrived. A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment on those reports.

Nice guy.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Democrat Congressman to Democrat Congresswoman: She’s a “whore.”

Rep. Loretta Sanchez has quit the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accusing the chairman, Rep. Joe Baca, of telling people she’s a “whore.”

Baca denied the charge.

In an interview with The Politico Wednesday, Sanchez, a California Democrat as is Baca, also cited concerns about whether Baca was properly elected Hispanic Caucus chairman in November and about his general attitude toward female lawmakers. The caucus represents 21 Hispanic Democrats in Congress.

“I’m not going to be a part of the CHC as long as Mr. Baca illegally holds the chair … I told them no. There’s a big rift here,” Sanchez said. “You treat the women like shit. I have no use for him.”

In a statement to The Politico, Baca said Sanchez “has decided to resign from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and has chosen to air baseless statements. Let me be clear; her comments are categorically untrue.”

Where’s the call for his resignation and sensitivity training for offending whores from around the world ???

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx