Gettlefinger responds to Mittens
11-30-08: On Late Edition Ron Gettlefinger from the UAW responds to Mitt Romney's statements about American auto companies not being able to compete due to labor costs.
-Diane
Sunday, November 30, 2008
11-30-08: On Late Edition Ron Gettlefinger from the UAW responds to Mitt Romney's statements about American auto companies not being able to compete due to labor costs.
-Diane
Killer Kids
PHOENIX – Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to an 8-year-old boy charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his father and another man in their eastern Arizona home, court records show.
Complete details of the offer weren't spelled out in a court filing posted Saturday on the Apache County Superior Court's Web site.
But County Attorney Criss Candelaria wrote that he has "tendered a plea offer to the juvenile's attorneys that would resolve all the charges in the juvenile court contingent on the results of the mental health evaluations."
Candelaria was responding to a defense motion seeking to block him from dropping one of two first-degree murder charges the boy faces in the deaths of his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, earlier this month.
Defense attorney Benjamin Brewer argued in a filing Tuesday that prosecutors wanted the charge dismissed so they could refile it when the boy was older and pursue case in adult court.
If we still don't have any system in place that can help either rehabilitate, or deal with any possible mental issues of an eight year old child, then our 'Department of Corrections' ought to hang up it's hat and go home.
-Diane
Latest News
Here's the latest news for Sunday, November 30, 2008: Clinton to State; Holiday sales up; Mumbai protests; Shuttle could land today.
-Diane
Mass Grave of the Day
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi police recovered at least 38 bodies from a mass grave Saturday and Sunday, and expect to find more as they continue digging, police officials said.
The bodies showed signs of torture, and some were blindfolded with their hands tied, police said. Some had been decapitated.
The bodies showed signs of torture, and some were blindfolded with their hands tied, police said. Some had been decapitated.
They all appeared to be the bodies of adult men, and some were wearing what appeared to be Iraqi Security Forces uniforms, CNN video showed.
-Diane
Democracy through slaughter
Friedman:
"I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect Iraq to have relations with Israel anytime soon, but the fact that it may be developing an independent judiciary is good news. It’s a reminder of the most important reason for the Iraq war: to try to collaborate with Iraqis to build progressive politics and rule of law in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world, a region that stands out for its lack of consensual politics and independent judiciaries. And it’s a reminder that a decent outcome may still be possible in Iraq, especially now that the Parliament has endorsed the U.S.-Iraqi plan for a 2011 withdrawal of American troops."
Lord knows George Bush won't be remembered for being an eloquent speaker, but, I really think I would recall if he'd tried to push off 'progressive politics' as a justification for the war in Iraq.
To be fair though, perhaps Friedman has been pushing this as one of his own cool reasons for blowing innocent people to bits. This is the first I've read his column since about the first dozen Friedman Units.
He is consistent if nothing else...
-Diane
"I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect Iraq to have relations with Israel anytime soon, but the fact that it may be developing an independent judiciary is good news. It’s a reminder of the most important reason for the Iraq war: to try to collaborate with Iraqis to build progressive politics and rule of law in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world, a region that stands out for its lack of consensual politics and independent judiciaries. And it’s a reminder that a decent outcome may still be possible in Iraq, especially now that the Parliament has endorsed the U.S.-Iraqi plan for a 2011 withdrawal of American troops."
Lord knows George Bush won't be remembered for being an eloquent speaker, but, I really think I would recall if he'd tried to push off 'progressive politics' as a justification for the war in Iraq.
To be fair though, perhaps Friedman has been pushing this as one of his own cool reasons for blowing innocent people to bits. This is the first I've read his column since about the first dozen Friedman Units.
He is consistent if nothing else...
-Diane
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Mumbai
Smoke billows from the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai on November 29, 2008. Outrage in India over the Mumbai attacks risks sparking a dangerous escalation in tensions with Pakistan, analysts say, even as Islamabad cautions against any knee-jerk reaction.
(AFP/Pedro Ugarte)
Relatives mourn the death of Harish Gohil, who was killed by a gunman's bullet at Nariman House, during a funeral in Mumbai November 29, 2008. Commandos ended a three-day rampage by Islamist gunmen in Mumbai on Saturday, killing the last of the militants after nearly 200 people died in attacks that struck at bastions of the Indian financial capital's elite.
REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA)
Relatives and friends pay their last respects to Harish Gohil who was killed by Islamic militants in Mumbai. Indian commandos have killed the last remaining gunmen in Mumbai's Taj hotel to end a devastating attack by Islamic militants on India's financial capital that left 195 dead, including 26 foreigners.
(AFP/Indranil Mukherjee)
U.S. national Andreina Varagona, a guest at the Oberoi Trident hotel who was shot in the shoulder by the terrorists holed up inside the hotel shares a moment with her husband Santos in a hospital in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008. A 60-hour terror rampage that killed at least 195 people across India's financial capital ended Saturday when commandos killed the last three gunmen inside a luxury hotel while it was engulfed in flames.
(AP Photo)
The medical staff from SNAM (Swedish National Airambulance) conduct a briefing in front of a SAS Boeing 737-800 passenger jet which has converted into an advanced ambulance aircraft for the SNAM (Swedish National Airambulance) at the SAS Technical Services at Arlanda airport, north of Stockholm November 29, 2008. The conversion of this passenger jet into an ambulance aircraft with six advanced intensive care units and six ordinary stretchers takes less than six hours. The aircraft took off for Mumbai, India with a medical staff of 9 doctors and 11 nurses on Saturday following a request from the EU to fly home those people injured in the terror attacks.
REUTERS/Johan Nilsson/Scanpix (SWEDEN).
Family members of Maibam Bimolchandra Singh wail as his body is brought to his hometown Imphal November 29, 2008. Singh, an employee in the Trident-Oberoi hotel in Mumbai, died in the Mumbai attacks. Commandos ended a three-day rampage by Islamist gunmen in Mumbai on Saturday, killing the last of the militants after nearly 200 people died in attacks that struck at bastions of the Indian financial capital's elite.
REUTERS/Stringer (INDIA)
People congratulate Indian commandos after the completion of an operation against terrorists at Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008. Indian commandos killed the last remaining gunmen holed up at a luxury Mumbai hotel Saturday, ending a 60-hour rampage through India's financial capital by suspected Islamic militants that killed people and rocked the nation.
(AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
A Muslim boy holds a placard during a rally in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad against the Mumbai attacks November 29, 2008.
(Amit Dave/Reuters)
-Diane
Friday, November 28, 2008
Woe, the holidays...
Some of the weird and tragic things that only occur during this special time of year:
During one man's Thanksgiving dinner on an inebriated, knife-wielding neighbor dropped in uninvited and began to threaten dinner guests. During this festive time of year, the man grabbed what he could to defend his family and friends...a plastic candy cane:
In what police said was self-defense, the man used the two-foot plastic lawn decoration to beat 49-year-old Donald Kercell until police could take Kercell into custody, said Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.
Kercell allegedly became intoxicated, went over to a neighbor's home on the 3600 block of Dayton Street early Thursday evening and began waving a kitchen knife at people gathered on the lawn, Leong said.
When Kercell cut a few people's clothing, Leong said, a man at the home decided to fight back. Other people at the home called police.
The man with the knife was book on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
The man with the candy cane faces no charges.
During this stampede of deranged Black Friday Wal-Mart shoppers, a store employee was trampled to death, and 4 other shoppers were injured, including a woman 8 months pregnant:
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Wal-Mart worker Jimmy Overby, 43.
"They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me.
"They took me down, too ... I didn't know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back," Overby said.
Damour, a temporary maintenance worker from Jamaica, Queens, was gasping for air as shoppers continued to surge into the store after its 5 a.m. opening, witnesses said.
Even officers who arrived to perform CPR on the trampled worker were stepped on by wild-eyed shoppers streaming inside, a cop at the scene said.
"They pushed him down and walked all over him," Damour's sobbing sister, Danielle, 41, said. "How could these people do that?
Two men shot each other dead inside a California Toys 'R' Us store during the Black Friday holiday shopping:
Sarah Pacia of Cathedral City said she was in the store with her two boys, ages 4 and 6, looking at coloring books when she heard a commotion in the next aisle.
She thought it was people rushing to get a sale item. Then she heard three or four shots.
She said she froze, and store employees calmly escorted her out of the store.
"This is Toys R Us. There are kids shopping in there," Pacia said. Her son Jayden, 4, was clinging to her leg. He told her he didn't want to die, she said.
Dan Watson said he got a call from his 33-year-old wife, Andrea, at 11:19 a.m. She said she there was a lot of gunfire, and he replied, “I can hear it, pop, pop, pop.”
“I told to turn off her ringer and hide,” Watson said.
He said the wife said, “Someone’s in the store shooting.”
He last heard from her at 12:05 p.m. He said she’s doing fine.
“I’m doing better now," he said, his eyes red at the scene. "But when I was driving here, it broke my heart, because she said 'Just tell my boys I love them.'"
Her sons, 3 and 7, are with dad.
Here's one more image to make you glad you weren't in the thick of Black Friday shopping(or if you were, use this opportunity to celebrate your survival.
Giant dogpiles inside a Wal-Mart at 5 A.M., people fighting over what appears to be an Xbox 360 Arcade unit bundled with Guitar Hero Something.
I guess $200 really is a mass-market price.
-Diane
During one man's Thanksgiving dinner on an inebriated, knife-wielding neighbor dropped in uninvited and began to threaten dinner guests. During this festive time of year, the man grabbed what he could to defend his family and friends...a plastic candy cane:
In what police said was self-defense, the man used the two-foot plastic lawn decoration to beat 49-year-old Donald Kercell until police could take Kercell into custody, said Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.
Kercell allegedly became intoxicated, went over to a neighbor's home on the 3600 block of Dayton Street early Thursday evening and began waving a kitchen knife at people gathered on the lawn, Leong said.
When Kercell cut a few people's clothing, Leong said, a man at the home decided to fight back. Other people at the home called police.
The man with the knife was book on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
The man with the candy cane faces no charges.
During this stampede of deranged Black Friday Wal-Mart shoppers, a store employee was trampled to death, and 4 other shoppers were injured, including a woman 8 months pregnant:
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Wal-Mart worker Jimmy Overby, 43.
"They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me.
"They took me down, too ... I didn't know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back," Overby said.
Damour, a temporary maintenance worker from Jamaica, Queens, was gasping for air as shoppers continued to surge into the store after its 5 a.m. opening, witnesses said.
Even officers who arrived to perform CPR on the trampled worker were stepped on by wild-eyed shoppers streaming inside, a cop at the scene said.
"They pushed him down and walked all over him," Damour's sobbing sister, Danielle, 41, said. "How could these people do that?
Two men shot each other dead inside a California Toys 'R' Us store during the Black Friday holiday shopping:
Sarah Pacia of Cathedral City said she was in the store with her two boys, ages 4 and 6, looking at coloring books when she heard a commotion in the next aisle.
She thought it was people rushing to get a sale item. Then she heard three or four shots.
She said she froze, and store employees calmly escorted her out of the store.
"This is Toys R Us. There are kids shopping in there," Pacia said. Her son Jayden, 4, was clinging to her leg. He told her he didn't want to die, she said.
Dan Watson said he got a call from his 33-year-old wife, Andrea, at 11:19 a.m. She said she there was a lot of gunfire, and he replied, “I can hear it, pop, pop, pop.”
“I told to turn off her ringer and hide,” Watson said.
He said the wife said, “Someone’s in the store shooting.”
He last heard from her at 12:05 p.m. He said she’s doing fine.
“I’m doing better now," he said, his eyes red at the scene. "But when I was driving here, it broke my heart, because she said 'Just tell my boys I love them.'"
Her sons, 3 and 7, are with dad.
Here's one more image to make you glad you weren't in the thick of Black Friday shopping(or if you were, use this opportunity to celebrate your survival.
Giant dogpiles inside a Wal-Mart at 5 A.M., people fighting over what appears to be an Xbox 360 Arcade unit bundled with Guitar Hero Something.
I guess $200 really is a mass-market price.
-Diane
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Rachel Maddow Show
11-26-08: Maddow on the end of BushCo. A quick look back at the untimely resignations, indictments, scandals.
-Diane
Countdown
Keith talks to Jonathan Alter about how we got to where we did with the economic mess we're in and on how the transfer of power is going between the Bush and future Obama administrations.
Keith talks to John Dean about whether it's likely for anyone in the Bush administration to be prosecuted for torturing prisoners.
Bushed!: Pardon-Gate, Mukasey-Gate and Delusion-Gate.
And the winner is...Andrew Ross Sorkin. Runners up LaDonna Hale Curzon and Glenn Beck.
Keith's roundup of the latest turkey pardons and parodies.
From the show aired 11-26-08.
-Diane
Foreigners targeted in Bombay attacks
At least 80 people were killed, 250 injured and up to 100 taken hostage by suspected Islamic terrorists in a series of attacks in Bombay targeting British and American citizens.
Militants attacked a crowded railway station, two luxury hotels and a backpacker bar with automatic rifles, bombs and grenades. All the sites were in the south of India’s financial capital.
The hostages were seized at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where a group of British MEPs were staying, and the Oberoi nearby. Paramilitary forces had gathered around both buildings. A police inspector said: “The terrorists are throwing grenades at us from the rooftop of the Taj and trying to stop us from moving in.”
*Foreign Office phone line for concerned relatives: 020 7 0080000.
-Diane
The Onion: Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Suit
The pardon assures that Libby will not face any more repercussions for his role in the Valerie Plame scandal or be eaten on Thanksgiving.
-Diane
Hardball
11-25-08: When talking about the potential stimulus package and the bailout of the auto industry, Republican strategist Todd Harris blames the workers in the auto industry for their problems. Mike Barnicle tries to act like he hasn't heard that before. Apparently he's not been watching his own network.
-Diane
Larry King Live
11-25-08: On Larry King Live, Bay Buchanan is suddenly worried about the Congress over spending and there being fraud and waste going on with the announcement of the bailout money.
-Diane
Rachel Maddow Show
Rachel talks to Jonathan Turley about whether the Democrats are going to let Bush off the hook for torturing prisoners.
Rachel talks to Ron Gettlefinger from the UAW about the workers being unfairly blamed for the problems at the GM, Ford and Chrysler.
Ms. Information.
From the show aired 11-25-08.
-Diane
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Countdown
Keith talks to Howard Fineman about the decision to keep Robert Gates as Defense Secretary for a year.
Keith talks to Chris Hayes of The Nation on what the progressive community thinks of some of Obama's Cabinet appointments and keeping Gates on as Defense Secretary.
Keith talks to Paul Krugman about Obama's potential appointments and the economic crisis and what can be done about it.
Keith's Best Person's.
Keith talks to Chris Cillizza about John McCain's first news conference since losing the election.
Bushed!: How Have the Mighty Fallen-Gate, Down the Memory Hole-Gate and Pardon-Gate.
Worst Person in the World: And the winner is....Dick Morris. Runners up Katon Dawson and Mark Williams.
Keith talks to Candice Gingrich, sister of Newt Gingrich about Prop 8.
From the show aired 11-25-08.
-Diane
Lieberman says Iraq war drove him from Democratic Party
1-25-08: The war in Iraq is the wedge that drove apart Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and the democratic party. Despite Lieberman’s support of John McCain for president, democrats have welcomed him back into the caucus...
The man is clueless and has no idea of the size of the wedge that I believe will keep him from winning a Democratic nomination in the next election, if, jeezus help us, he decides to run yet again.
-Diane
Judge Connected to Dick Cheney Indictment Fails to Show Up
11-24-08: Without warning defense attorneys, a Willacy County, Texas Judge failed to show up to work on Monday, leaving scores of scheduled hearings unheard. One man took a bus all the way from Indiana only to find that he needs to return to south Texas in January.
-Diane
Slur your words much there, Shrub?
11-25-08:
Is it just my imagination, or is W about 3 sheets to the wind??
President George W. Bush is at Fort Campbell in Kentucky thanking troops for their service and having lunch with about 150 soldiers, many of them just back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
-Diane
Monday, November 24, 2008
A Loss of Love and Country
11-23-08: 60 Minutes reports on the 'Widow's Penalty,' US immigration's practice of ordering the deportation of widows who had not yet completed their final interview with immigration before their spouse dies. Awaiting deportation are women with children born in the US, women who were married to men serving in Iraq, and all end up fighting the US in court if they wish to stay.
-Diane
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow's Ms. Information segment for Nov. 24, 2008.
Rachel Maddow talks to Robert Redford about the Bush administration's environmental record and the last minute changes to regulations they're trying to get snuck through at the last minute.
-Diane
Countdown
Keith Olbermann back from vacation reacts to the turkey slaughtering video for the first time.
Bushed!: Privatize This-Gate, Once a Bushie-Gate and Well That Went Well-Gate.
Worst Person in the World: And the winner is...Joe Lieberman. Runners up Mark Halperin and Bill O'Reilly.
11-24-08.
-Diane
Bin Laden's driver released from Gitmo
11-24-08: Salim Hamdan has been released to his native Yemen to serve out the rest of his term in a jail there.
-Diane
Thinking of shopping at Wal-Mart this holiday season?
Remember, as America's economy suffers, 70% of Wal-Mart's products are imported from China. America can't afford Wal-Mart any longer.
-Diane
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A Colbert Christmas
In this preview clip, John Legend explains the importance of nutmeg in eggnog.
In this preview clip, Toby Keith and Stephen talk about their favorite time of the year.
11-23-08
-Diane
Election's over, now talk to the hand
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama's top adviser has a warning for U.S. automakers: Without a plan to retool and restructure, there is very little taxpayers can do to help.
Congress last week refused to act on a bailout plan for the Detroit Three auto companies. Lawmakers are demanding that company executives first explain how they would reorganize themselves and make the industry viable.
Obama adviser David Axelrod says Congress is sending the right signal to the industry. He appeared on two Sunday talk show broadcasts.
If Obama had said this while he was campaigning in Michigan and Ohio, we'd be preparing for the inauguration of Sarah Palin.
-Diane
Congress last week refused to act on a bailout plan for the Detroit Three auto companies. Lawmakers are demanding that company executives first explain how they would reorganize themselves and make the industry viable.
Obama adviser David Axelrod says Congress is sending the right signal to the industry. He appeared on two Sunday talk show broadcasts.
If Obama had said this while he was campaigning in Michigan and Ohio, we'd be preparing for the inauguration of Sarah Palin.
-Diane
Thanks, Preznit Bush
Tom Waits: 'Brother, can you spare a dime?'
They used to tell me,
I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad,
I made it run
I made it run against time
Once i built a railroad,
and now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime? ...
Once in khaki suits,
Ah, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee-doodle dee-dum!
Brother, can you spare a dime?
The Little Match Seller: Based on a 1902 short story by Hans Christian Anderson.
-Diane
CNN Brenden's Wish
11-23-08: An 11 year old boy's dying wish to help the homeless stirs people into action across the nation.Whenever you think just one person can't make a difference, remember this brave young boy and his dying wish.
-Diane
Lieberman: No apology for attacks on Obama
11-23-08: Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw: Sen. Joe Lieberman told NBCs Tom Brokaw that he regretted some of his statements attacking Barack Obama during the campaign but declined to offer an apology.
After Brokaw pressed Lieberman for an apology, Holy Joe said 'You can take from the word regret what you will', answered Lieberman.
-Diane
Axelrod: I won't be another Karl Rove
David Axelrod has been selected to be Barack Obama's senior White House advisor, a position held by Karl Rove during George W. Bush's first term in office. Axelrod told Fox host Chris Wallace that he will do the job differently from Rove.
My role is circumscribed to those responsibilities. I'm not trying to rebuild the Democratic Party or any of these other - I think Mr. Rove had quite an expansive portfolio. I think mine is very focused, said Axelrod.
This video is from Fox News Sunday, broadcast Nov. 23, 2008.
-Diane
Grim and Grimmer
As bleak as the fate of the Big Three is looking at the moment, and life for the autoworkers, and their various suppliers, the picture has been steadily getting even darker on the possible alternative jobs front.
Some had hoped that the makers of agricultural machinery could be a possible source of employment, but the closures and bankruptcies of multiple alternative fuel ethanol plants makes those job avenues doubtful.
Note the following, and then after I'll talk more about the likely aftershocks soon to follow.
Yesterday:
Just three years ago, its co-founder was named a finalist for Ernst & Young's entrepreneur of the year contest in northwest Ohio.
But now Greater Ohio Ethanol LLC's lone plant on Houx Parkway in Lima is shuttered.
And this week, bankruptcy Judge Mary Ann Whipple, of Toledo, approved a request for an expedited hearing where she will consider the firm's request to begin seeking bids for the four-month-old plant. The hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Toledo.
Another hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4 there on a motion by creditor Nedra Corp. of Payne, Ohio, to convert the firm's month-old reorganization case to a liquidation.
But recent developments represent a huge slide for plant founders, who raised millions from private investors and once talked of building seven ethanol plants across Ohio. The $150 million Lima plant was to have produced 54 million gallons of the gasoline additive ethanol each year. In 2005, co-founder Gregory Kruger was a finalist for local entrepreneur of the year.
But the Lima plant was plagued by construction cost overruns, production problems, and a national credit crisis that blocked owners from obtaining loans needed to survive.
As a result, it was unable to supply its sole customer, BP Products North America Inc., with an agreed-to 49 million gallons of ethanol a year.
Today:
Construction crews were scheduled to start digging up the sandy soil next spring to make way for an ethanol distillery plant in San Pierre. The plant promised to revive the town's economy, bring high-paying jobs to one of the state's poorest counties, and double its tax rolls, a scenario that has played out repeatedly in struggling towns across the Midwest over the past three years.
But last month, the developers of the San Pierre plant announced that the $62 million deal was dead. Banks involved in the project had shut their doors and cut off their lines of credit. Desperate calls to dozens of other financial institutions led to the same answer: No.
Already battered by other market forces, the ethanol industry has been hit hard by the banking world's credit crunch, and the seemingly bright future of the corn-based biofuel has been cast in doubt.
In Pratt, Kan., the grinding mill machinery stands silent at the Gateway Ethanol plant. It was open for less than six months before running out of money, and there were no bank loans available to keep it going. The company has filed for bankruptcy.
In Royal, Ill., developers abandoned efforts to build a plant there and in six other locations, citing an inability to obtain financing. Plants have been shuttered, or plans for new ones halted, in Mead, Neb.; Belle Fourche, S.D.; Blairstown, Iowa; and Melrose, Minn.
Less than two years ago, the idea of distilling corn into a gasoline substitute won over Wall Street and rural residents, with visions of reviving the weakened farm economy and investing in greater US energy independence and green energy. Other agricultural businesses - from local co-ops to small-town merchants - saw a boost, as farmers suddenly had money for new clothes, spa visits, and farming equipment.
Friday here in Michigan:
Bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. reportedly is closing its ethanol plant in Woodbury.
The company has stopped taking corn at the plant and plans to shut down the facility when the existing supply is used, an Iowa State University professor who follows the company said.
Roger McEowen, director of the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation, said he also has learned that two of VeraSun's Iowa plants soon will close.
...
VeraSun on Wednesday reported a third-quarter net loss of $476.1 million, or $3.03 a share, compared with a profit of $7.8 million, or 9 cents a share, during the same period last year. Yet revenue increased nearly fivefold to $1.08 billion.
VeraSun filed for bankruptcy protection Oct. 31 after it bet wrongly in the commodities markets. A number of other producers, who hedge commodities to protect themselves from price spikes, are running into the same trap.
Farmers supplying VeraSun Energy Corp., the nation's second-largest ethanol producer, are being told the company doesn't necessarily have to honor its corn contracts under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
McEowen recommended farmers and elevators consider bankruptcy lawyers to collectively represent them.
November 18:
OTTUMWA — The prospects of building a $300 million ethanol plant in Wapello County is on hold thanks in part to woes on Wall Street and a shaky U.S. economy.
“ ... It’s the credit crisis. The banks are holding onto the money and they are not releasing it,” said Unity Ethanol Project Manager Joy Fullenkamp. “After the buyouts were taken care of, the banks are saying ‘We’ve loaned out too much money already’ and they are going to sit on it for a while.”
A lack of credit coupled with dropping oil prices as well as a smaller gap between regular gasoline and the ethanol blend has meant lower demand for the product.
“Ethanol is still cheaper and it always will be, but right now with the difference being minimal, people are not buying as much ethanol blend,” Fullenkamp said.
Also from November 18:
Look for more ethanol plant bankruptcies soon. Mark Lakers, president of Ag and Food Associates, an Omaha, Neb., middle market merger and acquisitions investment bank, expects as many as 40 Chapter 11 filings by the end of January.
Those include the 16 VeraSun plants in 8 Midwestern states in bankruptcy proceedings since Oct. 31. The U.S. now has about 150 ethanol plants in operation.
First of note is of all the automakers, only the Big Three produce vehicles that are able to run on ethanol. Ouch.
As noted in one of the press reports, the ethanol plants in bankruptcy won't be honoring their contracts with the farmers. The farmers will have to settle for a much lower payment for the corn they've already produced, harvested, and delivered.
They may also have already purchased new or upgraded farm equipment to meet the needs of the ethanol plants. Uh-oh. Now, how to pay for that expensive equipment? If they can't pay, the makers of agricultural machinery will be hurting from that blow, as well as a blow they will take for possibly adding to their inventory in anticipation of continued sales growth based on the growing demand for alternative fuel sources.
Bankrupt alternate fuel companies, cash poor farmers, financial hardship for farming equipment manufacturers, other avenues for displaced workers cut off, and more cars to sit unsold on the lots of dealers of Big Three autos.
Back to the jobs drawing board.
-Diane
Al Gore Interview
The full interview with Al Gore and Fareed Zakaria on GPS.
Part One.
Part Two.
-Diane
This Week: Panel Discussion on New Deal/Auto Bailout
11-23-08: The panel on This Week talking about whether Obama might be offerering some kind of New Deal and whether the first one worked, and the bailout of the auto industries.
-Diane
Cavuto and Stein
11-23-08: Pop yourself some popcorn, then kick back and listen to two conservative talking heads debate the economy.
-Diane
Al Gore
On CNN, Al Gore can 'barely contain' his excitement about President-elect Barack Obama:
CNNs Fareed Zakaria talked to Al Gore who expressed a strong approval of president-elect Obama. I can barely contain my excitement about his election, he said.
Gore notes that even Republicans were proud of the election results. This was a watershed election that really gave every American great pride in our nations ability to transcend our past and redeem the revolutionary promise of our Declaration of Independence that every human being is created equal. Its electrifying to redeem that Declaration.
CNN released a video clip of Gores interview. The full interview will air Sunday on CNNs Fareed Zakaria GPS.
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Nov. 20, 2008.
-Diane
SNL
Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel has a message for you.
Turkey Day: Wild turkeys running scared.
Weekend update with Arianna Huffington.
Bill Clinton on Hillary's new appointment.
11-22-08
-Diane
Saturday, November 22, 2008
45 years ago today.
The Zapruder Film:
The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 p.m. CST (18:30 UTC). Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife Jacqueline in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza.
Before my time, yet I still get cold chills watching it. I imagine that in another 45 years people will still be questioning the lone gunman and the magic bullet theory.
-Diane
Hannity and Colmes
Dick Morris on Hannity and Colmes trying to blame our economic troubles on Obama before he's even elected.
11-22-08
-Diane
Hardball
Chris Matthews talks to Dan Lungren and Jan Schakowsky about who's running the economy and the country right now.
Chris Matthews discusses with his panel what the key differences are between Obama and Bush.
11-22-08
-Diane
Friday, November 21, 2008
War Art
Mercury News:
Standing in a sandbox on the lawn of the cemetery at Resurrection Catholic Community in Aptos are thousands of figurines representing Americans and Iraqis killed during the war that began in March 2003.The 4,190 small white clay figures, each holding a U.S. flag, represent dead American soldiers. The 92,000 dark clay figures, behind the Americans like a shadow, represent Iraqis.
The installation's creator, artist Kathleen Crocetti, started the project 41/2 years ago, and thought it would be an appropriate memorial on Veterans Day.
"I'm doing this to help people visualize the number of people killed in the Iraq war. We need a physical connection to that number," said Crocetti, a Watsonville resident. "I thought we went into the war under false pretenses, and I can't sanction pre-emptive war."
Each figure is handmade and fired in a kiln that Crocetti, an art teacher at Mission Hill Middle School in Santa Cruz, has at home.
This report is from earlier in the month, but I found it rather moving that someone is so touched by the war and it's destruction, to go to such efforts.
-Diane
Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow's Ms. Information segment for Nov. 21, 2008.
Rachel talks to Richard Engel about what's going on in Iraq now with the protests and with SOFA.
Rachel Maddow talks to Jonathan Turley about who Bush might be pardoning in the last days of his Presidency.
-Diane
Countdown: Bushed!
11-21-08: Nipple-Down Economics-Gate, Yet Another CIA Cover-Up-Gate and Ex Post Facto-Gate.
-Diane
Kucinich Fights to save 4000 jobs at National City Bank
11-21-08: Cleveland Channel 8 news reports on Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich's efforts to save 4,000 NE Ohio jobs.
-Diane
Iraqi protesters hang Bush effigy
Today in Baghdad: Followers of a Shiite cleric crowd a Baghdad square, sending an effigy of President George W. Bush into the crowd, protesting a security pact between the U.S. and Iraqi governments.
-Diane
Sarah Palin tries to outfunny Tina Fey
A 2008 news story on KTUU channel 2 in Anchorage. Subject: Governor Sarah Palin is interviewed at a turkey farm while turkeys are slaughtered behind her.
You can't make this stuff up.
-Diane
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Breaking
Atty General Mukasey has been taken to a hospital this evening after he collapsed during a speech during a dinner at the Federalist Society:
Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed during a speech Thursday night and was being taken to a hospital.
Difficult to say with so little information(and not knowing anything about any prior medical history) but it sounds like a stroke could be a possibility here. I'll let you know when there's more on his condition.
-Diane
Update: Here's the latest on the AG's condition.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed during a speech Thursday night and was being taken to a hospital.
Associate Attorney General Kevin O'Connor said Mukasey began shaking while addressing the Federalist Society at a Washington hotel.
"He just started shaking and he collapsed," O'Connor said. "They're very concerned."
O'Connor said he did not know whether Mukasey, 67, had regained consciousness."
Difficult to say with so little information(and not knowing anything about any prior medical history) but it sounds like a stroke could be a possibility here. I'll let you know when there's more on his condition.
-Diane
Update: Here's the latest on the AG's condition.
Spin, spin, spin
11-20-08: White House: George Bush don't neither have cooties, you dirty fucking hippies!
-Diane
Oh my.
While they cleaned up nicely, if someone were to tip off say, PETA for instance...
Not that I would do such a thing. I'm just sayin'...
-Diane
Not that I would do such a thing. I'm just sayin'...
-Diane
Army contractor faces murder charge
Wired:
"A member of the Army's controversial Human Terrain project has been charged with second degree murder, for an alleged revenge killing in Afghanistan.
Don Ayala supposedly shot Kandahar native Abdul Salam in the head, after Salam set one of Ayala's co-workers on fire in an Afghan village. Ayala, a former bodyguard to both the Afghan president and the Iraqi prime minister, could face life in prison if convicted, according to documents filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The already-embattled Human Terrain program, which embeds cultural specialists in combat units, could be in serious trouble, as well.
On November 4th, Ayala was on a foot patrol in the village of Chehel Gazni, about 40 miles outside of Kandahar. He was accompanying social scientist Paula Loyd, who was interviewing locals. Three local interpreters, and a platoon of U.S. soldiers from C company, 2-2 Infantry Battalion, rounded out the group.
Loyd approached Abdul Salam, who was carrying a fuel jug. They began talking about the price of gas. Suddenly, the man doused Lloyd in a flammable liquid and set her on fire. She suffered second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body.
Salam immediately fled the scene and ran about 50 meters toward Ayala," according to an affidavit filed by Jennifer Bryan, a special agent with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division. "Ayala drew his pistol but did not fire at Salam. Ayala instead extended his arm, causing Salam to run into his arm and fall to the ground. Ayala attempted to restrain Salam and was assisted by soldiers from the platoon who responded to the scene. Salam was restrained with plastic restraints (also called "flexcuffs" or "zipcuffs"), around his wrists, which were behind his back."
"Ayala further restrained Salam by kneeling over Salam and using his body weight to hold Salam to the ground. Ayala also pointed his pistol at Salam's head. Salam continued to resist detention, but there were several Soldiers around him and Ayala had Salam effectively immobilized," Bryan goes on to say. "After about ten minutes, a soldier approached the location where Ayalahad Salam detained and informed the personnel in the area that Loyd was burned badly. Ayala pushed his pistol against Salam's head and shot Salam, killing him instantly." "
Being held accountable is a step in the right direction, but let's just wait and see if any punishment is in line with the severity of the crime. Right now I find that prospect doubtful.
-Diane
"A member of the Army's controversial Human Terrain project has been charged with second degree murder, for an alleged revenge killing in Afghanistan.
Don Ayala supposedly shot Kandahar native Abdul Salam in the head, after Salam set one of Ayala's co-workers on fire in an Afghan village. Ayala, a former bodyguard to both the Afghan president and the Iraqi prime minister, could face life in prison if convicted, according to documents filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The already-embattled Human Terrain program, which embeds cultural specialists in combat units, could be in serious trouble, as well.
On November 4th, Ayala was on a foot patrol in the village of Chehel Gazni, about 40 miles outside of Kandahar. He was accompanying social scientist Paula Loyd, who was interviewing locals. Three local interpreters, and a platoon of U.S. soldiers from C company, 2-2 Infantry Battalion, rounded out the group.
Loyd approached Abdul Salam, who was carrying a fuel jug. They began talking about the price of gas. Suddenly, the man doused Lloyd in a flammable liquid and set her on fire. She suffered second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body.
Salam immediately fled the scene and ran about 50 meters toward Ayala," according to an affidavit filed by Jennifer Bryan, a special agent with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division. "Ayala drew his pistol but did not fire at Salam. Ayala instead extended his arm, causing Salam to run into his arm and fall to the ground. Ayala attempted to restrain Salam and was assisted by soldiers from the platoon who responded to the scene. Salam was restrained with plastic restraints (also called "flexcuffs" or "zipcuffs"), around his wrists, which were behind his back."
"Ayala further restrained Salam by kneeling over Salam and using his body weight to hold Salam to the ground. Ayala also pointed his pistol at Salam's head. Salam continued to resist detention, but there were several Soldiers around him and Ayala had Salam effectively immobilized," Bryan goes on to say. "After about ten minutes, a soldier approached the location where Ayalahad Salam detained and informed the personnel in the area that Loyd was burned badly. Ayala pushed his pistol against Salam's head and shot Salam, killing him instantly." "
Being held accountable is a step in the right direction, but let's just wait and see if any punishment is in line with the severity of the crime. Right now I find that prospect doubtful.
-Diane
Finally
A change I can believe in.
WASHINGTON - More than three decades after he first appeared before the panel as a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar protester, Senator John F. Kerry will be named chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, giving him enormous influence over President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy, according to congressional officials.
-Diane
Convicted Felon Senator Ted Stevens Receives Standing Ovation on the Senate Floor
11-20-08: You'd never know that Stevens had just been convicted of 7 federal felonies that may yet send him to jail.
I followed this as it happened today, and if I can find more video I'll add that. Harry Reid actually refers to Stevens as his 'brother' and sings glowing praise of him, as do others.
Of course, this tape is mostly Stevens singing his own praise.
-Diane
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