StudioGlyphic

Anti-occupancy forces have been targeting American soldiers, Iraqi police, Iraqi politicians/leaders, UN workers, Red Cross workers, the Italians--everyone involved in the US-backed occupation.

ABCNEWS.com : Two Spanish Recon Soldiers Killed in Iraq

Over the past week, another oil pipeline was attacked and set on fire.

MoveOn.org Voter Fund

Nice.

Two ads on MoveOn.org about George Bush's job creation record and what the $87 billion could have bought in the US.

Any donations to MoveOn.org will be matched by some very wealthy donors.

Treason's Greetings - The GOP calls Democrats soft on terror. By William Saletan and Jacob Weisberg

Saletan and Weisberg do a good job of dissecting the ad.

CBS News | Press Finds Dean Two-Dimensional

Heh heh heh... check out the video--the link's on the left hand side right above the picture of Eric Salzman.

In response to the RNC's attack ad on Democrats ("Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists."), the Dean campaign has created its own counter ad, putting the lie to their assertions. Over the weekend they put up a bat to fund the ad and raised $360,000 two days ahead of schedule. This new ad will start running in Iowa thanks to the 5,767 contributions averaging $63.

The bat's still up; I've placed a copy of it to the right. Feel free to click it and make a contribution of $5 or $10. We're looking at 11 months of negative campaigning from the Republican leadership, and we're going to have to counter them on the streets and over the airwaves.

It's official. I'm old. I'm listening to decades-old music that first came on the air waves when I was a kid. But there was so much New Wave / Brit-Pop goodness at Bang Saturday night that I'm just going to have to share...

Ah...

Op-Ed Columnist: Scaring Up Votes

Blog for America : Virginia is Dean Country | November 22, 2003

It was supposed to be a ribbon-cutting ceremony. A few words of welcome, a toast or two, maybe a tour of our 20-phone-line Virginia HQ. Dean Corps got into the action and urged attendees to bring donations for local shelters.

We're talking a full-blown, all-out rally -- and Governor Dean wasn't even there.

Awesome.

Ted Rall gives his Anybody But Bush endorsement to Dean:

Ted Rall - Howard Dean for President

I don't regret voting for Ralph Nader in 2000.... I figured George W. Bush for a meaner, stupider version of his dad, another linguistically challenged, harmless centrist with little agenda aside from paying off his contributors with, say, a cut in the capital gains tax.

Howard Dean has the best chance to beat Bush.

NPR : Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog

Funny stuff. Especially if you've heard the interviews with Gene Simmons and Bill O'Reilly.

Not by the separation of church and state people, but by the evangelicals!

Washington Post: Bush's Remark About God Assailed

Evangelical Christian leaders expressed dismay yesterday over President Bush's statement that Christians and Muslims worship the same god, saying it had caused discomfort within his conservative religious base. But most predicted that the political impact would be short-lived.

"The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health. The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The personalities of each god are evident in the cultures, civilizations and dispositions of the peoples that serve them. Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus' central message was love. They seem to be very different personalities," [Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals] said.

Washington Post: 2 Bills Would Benefit Top Bush Fundraisers

Executives' Companies Could Get Billions

More than three dozen of President Bush's major fundraisers are affiliated with companies that stand to benefit from the passage of two central pieces of the administration's legislative agenda: the energy and Medicare bills.

I was thinking about posting something about how nearly every aspect of the US financial markets has been hit by one scandal or another. But Buttonwood's done it for me:

Economist.com: Everyone's making money except the customers

The mutual-funds scandal is merely the latest in a long line of embarrassments that have eroded trust in America’s financial intermediaries. The small investor has every reason to feel aggrieved

Except he forgot the currency exchange scandals which broke just this week.

Economist.com: Yet another crooked market (subscription required)

Scams in foreign-exchange trading

ARE there no honest financial markets left in the United States? As the country's mutual-fund scandal rumbled on (see article), an 18-month investigation by federal prosecutors in New York culminated on November 18th with the arrest of 47 participants in the foreign-exchange markets. A number of those arrested worked for such prominent institutions as J.P. Morgan Chase, UBS, Société Générale, AIG and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. The illegal activity, say prosecutors, has been going on for 20 years.

There we go.

G.O.P. to Run an Ad for Bush on Terror Issue

The new commercial gives the first hint of the themes Mr. Bush's campaign is likely to press in its early days. It shows Mr. Bush, during the last State of the Union address, warning of continued threats to the nation: "Our war against terror is a contest of will, in which perseverance is power," he says after the screen flashes the words, "Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists."

New Democrat this, centrist that. What a bunch of bullshit.

Let's get this straight, once and for all: Clinton won in '92 thanks to Ross Perot. Perot was Bush's Nader. Clinton won by a landslide in '96 thanks to ... Ross Perot! He still would have won had Perot not run, but he would not have won as many electoral votes. It would have been damn close. And this for an incumbent President who raised a record amount of money for a Democrat.

For a lot of Congressional elections, however, the Democrats have lost ground. This new Democrat centrist BS the DLC has been pushing since '92 is a fraud. Republicans have courted their base of religious and conservative activists, and have done quite well by that strategy. Democrats need to do the same, and stop turning off Democratic-leaning voters with their Republican-lite ways.

When it comes down to it, Gore was declared the loser because of 5 electoral votes. Without winning a single Southern State, Gore racked up 266 votes. Bush squeaked into his lead when he was awarded Florida's 25 electoral votes (before Florida, Bush was trailing Gore by 20 electoral votes). Is it possible for Dean to win the Presidency without winning in the South? Absolutely.

5 votes. Had Gore taken just 3 of Bush's votes, he would have been declared the winner. Think about it. Where would those votes come from? There are three obvious answers:

Florida (537 votes)

This goes without saying. The final official count showed a 537 vote difference. If blacks and ex-cons had not been disenfranchised, if Democratic party officials had not approved a ballot that confused people, if all the votes had been counted, if they had excluded military votes postmarked after Election Day, if Nader had not earned nearly 100,000 votes, Florida and its 25 electoral votes would have been Gore's.

New Hampshire (7,211 votes)

Gore trailed Bush in New Hampshire by 7,211 votes, but Nader received 22,198 votes, more than three times that difference. Had Nader not campaigned in New Hampshire, it is very likely that a good percentage of those 22,000 votes would have gone to Gore, and New Hampshire's 4 electoral votes would have changed history.

Tennessee (80,229 votes)

For Chrissakes, can't you win your home state? Or how about Bill Clinton's state, where you lost by 50,172 votes?

But what this means is that Dean can safely downplay the South, despite wanting to be the candidate for White Southerners, provided that he wins every state Gore won and one more. The blue states that were won by 5% of the vote or less were:

New Mexico, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Michigan.

The outlook is good for keeping these states. In 2000, Nader won 2-5% of the vote in each of these states. Provided that Dean does not piss off the Naderites and continues to grow his grassroots support, these states can remain blue. In New Mexico, the governor is a very popular, larger-than-life Democrat. While Bush's "El Dubya" pandering in 2000 won him significant support in the Latino communities, his neglect of Mexico and the tougher restrictions on immigration since that time has likely eroded support for Bush. The steel tariff issue is likely to hit hard in both Pennsylvania and Michigan. In Pennsylvania because the tariffs are likely to be lifted. In Michigan because the tariffs hurt auto manufacturing and other steel-consuming industries. The recent mayoral election in Philadelphia galvanized Democrats around a mayor seen to be the subject of a political attack by the Federal government. In Oregon and Iowa, the war is likely to be an important issue. In Iowa, Dean's energy platform will gain favor.

The red states decided by 5% of the votes or fewer were:

Florida, New Hampshire, Missouri, Ohio, Nevada, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

The landslide reelection of Jeb Bush does not necessarily bode well for Florida. However, the election in 2000 was very close, and Dean may do well to recruit Graham for the campaign trail. In fact, getting Clinton, Gore, and Clark to campaign in Tennessee and Arkansas, as well as Florida, would probably be a very good idea, provided that Gore maintains his recently-emerged humanity. We can also expect organizations like MoveOn.org to undertake a massive voter registration campaign in Florida to counter the machinations of the Republican Party. New Hampshire could be won; without Nader, and as a governor of a neighboring state, New Hampshire residents may want to see a fellow New Englander in office. Ohio's been hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs as well as problems with energy production and transmission.

So is it winnable? Absolutely. Is it going to be tough? You bet.

Our Words: The Lawrence Summers Memo

I always knew there was something weird about Harvard.

I haven't finished looking at the issue, but I suspect Thomas F. Schaller
might be right when he says the Democrats should forget the South.

A Route for 2004 That Doesn't Go Through Dixie

Series of Bombs Rocks Downtown Istanbul

ISTANBUL, Nov. 20--Two powerful explosions, five minutes apart, ripped through Istanbul Thursday, killing at least 27 and injuring more than 450. The targets included the British consulate and a British bank.

Authorities said the blast, like the Saturday attacks on synagogues here that killed 23 and injured 300, occurred within five minutes of one another.

Two sets of attacks within one week. The symbolism of choosing British and Jewish targets is pretty clear.

BBC SPORT | Football | African | Adu signs for DC United

14 years old, highest-paid player in Major League Soccer.

Governor Proposes Bond Sale, Spending Cap

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today proposed a $15-billion bond measure along with a state spending cap, measures aimed at closing a huge gap in next year's budget, but which also could eventually drain billions from the state treasury.

The bond proposal — though controversial for its potential to cost the state as much as twice what it borrows — could cushion the blow of Schwarzenegger's first act as governor, an executive order to roll back the recent tripling of the vehicle registration fee.

When government runs deficits, they can do one of three things:

1. Raise revenues.

2. Cut spending.

3. Borrow from the future.

Schwarzenegger has decided that number 3 is the best thing to do since he doesn't want to raise taxes and he has yet to figure out where and how much to cut. Let's hope he figures it out soon, since borrowing from the future will only go so far before it leads to an increase in taxes and cuts in spending. This probably will not happen during his administration, but if he truly cares about California, he will be cognizant of these dangers on the horizon. As for me, I'm a bit wary about the prospect of paying $30b over 30 years instead of paying $15b now.

Don't get me wrong. A little deficit can be a good thing during hard economic times. But borrowing is expensive, so you want to make sure that you put the money to good use. How many dollars will you spend per job retained or created? How many dollars will you spend per business retained or created? How many dollars will you invest now to reap revenues in the future? Will your borrowed dollar give you a return on investment in a broader tax base or higher revenues that eases the cost of borrowing? The problem is, if you are simply borrowing to plug a gap, it won't have much of an effect on future revenues.

Now, he's also proposed spending caps that presumably will be indexed to population growth and inflation and possibly personal income. Sounds good, right? Let's not forget the environment legislators are working in. 70% of the general fund is already locked up in mandatory spending. Strict spending caps would mean that some vital programs will receive funding one cycle and possibly no funding the next. Not a good idea. Let's also not forget that these numbers are based on projections about the future. No national or state projection predicted the dot-com bust, the corporate accounting scandals, or the federal tax cuts (which affect state revenues). Nor did these projections predict economic catastrophes such as wildfires, floods, earthquakes, strikes, and disease outbreaks. What the state needs is not rigid budget laws but fiscal managers who have the flexibility to deal with disaster and the prudence to save during good times.

We'll see what happens. The Governor still has the Legislature to deal with. Unless the next budget cycle shows significant increases in revenue or decreases in spending, we might be faced with borrowing even more from our future selves. And that course of "action" is untenable.

Washington Post: Massachusetts Court: State Wrong to Ban Gay Marriage

[Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court] rejected the state's chief argument in favor of the ban: that the purpose of marriage is "procreation." That, the court concluded, is largely a cover for "persistent prejudices" against homosexuals.

The Massachusetts decision went further, however, by adhering to the concept of "marriage" alone. Marriages are recognizable across state lines. Civil unions are not.

The Republicans will use this as a key issue.

You'd think the Globe would support the home team. You'd think.

Brian McGrory disses Kerry in his piece "For Kerry, July looms"

A lifetime ago, when John F. Kerry was the clear front-runner for the nomination, the Democratic National Convention was to be the ultimate homecoming for him, a wild victory celebration.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the nomination. Kerry collapsed. Howard Dean soared. Richard A. Gephardt found something of a voice. All of which means, if things stay as they are now, that one week in July may well be the most humiliating experience of Kerry's political career.

PoliticsNH.com is collecting entries for a nationwide search for the Bride of Kucinich!

"As a bachelor, I get a chance to fantasize about my first lady. And you know maybe Fox will want to sponsor it as a national contest or something. But in any event I would want definitely want someone who would not just be there by my side, but be a working partner because I think we're in a day in age when partnerships are imperative to making anything happening in the world. And I certainly want a dynamic, out-spoken woman who was fearless in her desire for peace in the world and for universal single-payer health care and a full employment economy. If you are out there call me."

Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, 11/05/03

This is brilliant.

There are already lots of entries on the page, presumably serious. I don't know if this is what Kucinich intended, but it reminds me of an episode of NewsRadio when Jimmy James launched a presidential campaign to meet women.

Thanks to the Note for both pointing this out and for the title.

Political Points: Politicians Stage a Dramatic Exit

Quick About-Face for General Clark

The general said his wife, Gertrude, was a veteran of the Red Cross, the P.T.A., officers' wives clubs and other groups. Shortly afterward, he thanked his savior. "You saved my bacon, I can tell you that," he said.

He's funny.

Sponsored by Sen Carl Levin of Michigan, this bill would "prevent corporate auditors from providing tax shelter services to their audit clients." Sounds good to me.

S 1767 is in committee. Express your support for the bill, by writing to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. It would help if you are a constituent of one of these jokers:

Richard Shelby (R-AL), Paul S. Sarbanes (D-MD),
Robert F. Bennett (R-UT), Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), Wayne Allard (R-CO), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Michael B. Enzi (R-WY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Rick Santorum (R-PA), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Zell Miller (D-GA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Thomas R Carper (D-DE), John E. Sununu (R-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ), Lincoln D. Chafee (R-RI)

Investing and Mutual Funds

One of the best (and best-selling) books on investing is Burton Gordon Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Now in its 7th or 8th edition, the book makes the case against trying to beat the market or getting lucky in picking the right stock. While one can sometimes beat the market or pick the right stock, odds are that you'll be wrong more often than right, and the transaction costs are going to wipe a lot of your gains. Instead, Malkiel recommends the same basic strategy he first recommended in 1973:

Diversify your portfolio
Invest for the long-term
Take advantage of dollar-cost averaging

This strategy is based on the assumption that over time, the economy will continue to expand, and the markets will reflect this expansion by increasing in value. Of course, this is a long-term trend, and in the short-term, the markets will rise and fall on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even annual basis. The three components of the Random Walk strategy are intended to flatten out the inherent volatility of the markets to produce long-term gains for the investor.

Diversify your portfolio

Individual stocks are very volatile. As the market follows the next big thing, capital moves from blue-chips to dot-coms to bio-tech to media to bonds and back again in a roller-coaster ride that can often leave the small investor high and dry. However, if you assume that the economy is growing over time, the market as a whole will rise. Think of the market as 3 dimensional space: to avoid being left in one of the valleys of the market landscape, spread out your investments across this landscape. While your gains won't be as great, your losses, too, won't be as great. Investing in at least 20 or more different companies in different sectors usually minimizes volatility to a reasonable level. That's why mutual funds are great. In order to invest in 20 or more companies, the individual investor would have to have tons of cash to buy stocks in each company. By investing in a mutual fund, the individual investor can essentially buy partial shares in these companies, thus lowering the threshold for investing.

Invest for the long-term

This is the time component of the investing universe: over time, the market will rise. Trying to get your money in at a low point and out at a high point could go disastrously awry. There's no way to tell whether there's a peak or a valley beyond the short-term time horizon, and in the meantime, moving your money around will incur transaction fees that will eventually eat up any minor gains you may make. But if the market will rise over time, then sitting tight with your diversified portfolio should see corresponding gains and lower transaction costs, provided that you can stomach the dips along the way.

Take advantage of dollar-cost averaging

Just as diversification spreads out your investment over space, dollar-cost averaging spreads our your investment over time. How does it work? Essentially, instead of investing your annual $2000 in January and hoping that you've timed it just right, you divide that amount up and invest it over time. Let's say you get paid every two weeks and want to use part of your paycheck to invest: $2000 divided by 26 is $77. By investing $77 every two weeks, you ensure that you average out the price of your portfolio. So instead of risking plunking down $2000 when the market is high and getting reamed by a dip, you get the average price of all the peaks and valleys. While Malkiel doesn't explicitly say to invest 20 or more times during a year, I imagine it's not such a bad strategy. If it works in space, it should work in time.

Random walk?

So why is it called A Random Walk Down Wall Street? It's based on the idea that no one, not even the professionals, can accurately guage which stocks will perform best. Many mutual funds are actively-managed, meaning that the portfolio changes based on what the fund manager thinks will do well. The Random Walk team argued that the S&P 500 (a market index of 500 companies) historically outperformed 80% of the actively-managed funds and that trying to beat the market didn't make sense (reminds me of a social psych experiment I once heard about). They set out to prove this by pitting their own portfolio of stocks, picked using the equivalent of throwing darts at a page, against actively managed-funds. 30 years later, their "fund" is outperforming most actively-managed funds. This is mostly due to fund managers guessing wrong as they move the money around, but a significant factor is also due to transaction costs that the fund has to absorb in all the buying and selling.

Picking a fund

So it's reasonable to say that in picking a fund, it's best to pick one based on a broad index, such as the S&P 500. The money stays put, and the portfolio only changes when the index is updated (which happens infrequently). Keep your money in this fund for the long-term, take advantage of dollar-cost averaging, and you should see gains over the long-term that beat inflation and give you a healthy return on top.

BusinessWeek also has a recent article that talks about the value of investing in index funds, especially in light of the recent mutual fund scandals.

The other things to watch out for are fees and loads. Every fund is supposed to publish a prospectus which describes the fund's philosophy, costs, and historical performance. These costs are the most important part of your research (the philosophy should be to track a particular market index, and the historical performance is almost irrelevant). Funds take a percentage of the assets. This is reasonable. However, these percentages can range from .5 to 1.5. If you have a choice, why wouldn't you take the lower percentage? Since you are investing in an index fund, you don't need some smart guy to figure out where to invest, which is how some funds try to justify higher percentages. Some funds also charge advertising fees, loads, and other things that eat away at your earnings. None of this stuff is necessary, so look for lower expense ratios.

I've got my investments in an S&P 500 index fund at Vanguard. They feature no-load funds, and have one of the lowest expense ratios in the industry. Plus, if you read the Newsweek and Economist articles above, you'll know they're not involved with this whole mutual fund scandal, and have, in fact, often called for stricter regulations over funds and the markets. Over the time that I've invested in this fund, I've seen rates of return as low as -13.9% and as high as 13.4%. Thanks to dollar-cost averaging, my overall rate of return to date is 15%. Not bad.

Investing for Retirement

Free money

Who wouldn't want free money, right? Well, if your employer offers a 401(k) with matches, take advantage of it! My company used to match 60 cents on the dollar up to 6% of my salary. That meant that every dollar I invested instantly saw a return of 60%. My only regret is that I didn't join the plan earlier. As for the effect on your take-home, it's not as bad as you think. Your contributions are pre-tax, meaning they'll be taxed when you start withdrawing money from the fund. For example, let's say I had $180 to invest every pay period and my effective payroll and income tax rate was 33%. The $180 pre-tax investment would result in a $120 hit on my paycheck. Not only that, but with the company matching 60 cents on the dollar, I would get to invest $288 for every $120 I couldn't spend on whiskey. Free money's always a good thing. In reality, my rate of return on my own contributions, including the matches and their gains, has been 74%. Sweet.

Even if your employer doesn't offer matches, the 401(k) does offer a lower investing threshold. I said earlier that mutual funds offer diverse portfolios for lower investing thresholds than investing directly in stocks, but the truth is that there are still some thresholds. Funds don't want to spend the money processing every Joe off the street, so they often have minimums to open an account and minimums to add to your account. The 401(k) offers a way to get into the fund without meeting the minimum requirements if you don't have a bunch of cash lying around. Hopefully by the time you leave your employer, your balance will surpass the required thresholds and avoid any fees for being below the threshold.

No free money?

If you have the cash and your employer doesn't offer matches, your best bet might be to invest in an IRA. Between traditional and Roth IRAs, I would advise investing in the Roth. The traditional IRA is pre-tax, which means that the investments and your gains will be taxed when you withdraw money at retirement. You'll get the taxes you paid on the investment money refunded at tax time. The Roth IRA is post-tax, but your investments and gains are not taxed when withdrawn at retirement. You pay a little tax up front, but since you don't pay tax on your earnings at the end, the Roth tends to be the better deal. The same is true when you pit the Roth against the 401(k). So for me, the choice was basically between free money and higher taxes. The amount of free money offered in the 401(k) outweighed the tax benefits of the Roth.

Questions?

Again, I'd recommend buying A Random Walk Down Wall Street. The Motley Fool also offers lots of decent advice on investing and other things, like mortgages, credit card debt, etc.

Los Angeles Times: Leonid Meteor Showers Are Due

A similar show is expected Nov. 19 and could provide better viewing because the waning moon will not interfere as much. Viewers should look toward the eastern horizon between midnight and 2 a.m., said Scott Kardel, public affairs director of Palomar Observatory in San Diego County.

For the last four years, Earth has passed directly through fresh dust trails and allowed some viewers to see more than a thousand meteors per hour. This year, the planet only brushes past dust trails that are several centuries old.

Most people look forward to the weekend all week because of their plans for Friday or Saturday night, or because they can relax and sleep in. I often find myself looking forward to the weekend because then I'm 3 short days away from playing poker.

Blog for America : A Better Deal for Higher Ed | November 13, 2003

The plan would also benefit Americans already in the workforce who are still making payments on student loans. If your payments on your undergraduate loans are more than 10% of your income, you will be eligible for a tax credit.

The Accidental Tourist - If secondhand smoke kills, is the airline to blame? The Supreme Court deliberates. By Dahlia Lithwick

Molly Ivins is my hero for today. Read her column and imagine an older Texan woman speaking...

Call Me a Bush-Hater | Molly Ivins

The Washington Post's Laura Blumenfeld writes in "Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush" about Soros' self-appointed mission of defeating George Bush in 2004, citing the "danger to the world" of a Bush-led United States and comparing the administration's rhetoric to that of Nazi Germany. Soros is donating millions of dollars to groups such as MoveOn.org and America Coming Together (ACT). There are currently no restrictions on donations to these kinds of organizations (while soft money contributions to political parties have been banned).

Asked whether he would trade his $7 billion fortune to unseat Bush, Soros opened his mouth. Then he closed it. The proposal hung in the air: Would he become poor to beat Bush?

He said, "If someone guaranteed it."

I think we live in a time where we have to declare that the ends do justify the means. But I'm afraid that even when this election is over, we'll continue to see money pouring into these organizations on both sides of the aisle, and that's just not right.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post reports on how two of the most influential unions came to endorse Dean: "Howard Dean's Unlikely Road To a Major Boost From Labor"

The combined membership of the two unions numbers 3.1 million. These unions have the funds and the boots to give a huge boost to a candidate--witness Bill Clinton in '92. Symbolically, they provide Dean with institutional support, some much-needed racial/ethnic diversity, and representation on the coasts and in the Mid-West.

Gephardt's union supporters number 20 million, but SEIU and AFSCME's endorsement of Dean sends a powerful message to those unions still uncommitted to any candidate.

The biggest problems with this administration's economic policies are their long-term effects. Of course, it's always difficult to predict the future, but there are reasonable projections that can be made.

The Economist has put out a special issue on America, and in this issue they make just such a projection, and put a stake on what it will mean:

The economic consequences are indisputably negative. Big budget deficits reduce America's already abysmally low saving rate. As the economy's slack is worked off, Uncle Sam's demand for dollars is likely to crowd out private investment and reduce long-term economic growth. Even if the global capital market helps out, America is already enormously reliant on foreigners to fund its spending: the current-account deficit, the measure of annual borrowing from foreigners, is at an historic high of 5.1% of GDP. Big budget deficits will aggravate these external imbalances and so raise the risk of financial volatility, even a dollar crisis. Over the next few years, that is perhaps the biggest risk that Mr Bush's fiscal policies pose for the world economy.

NY Times: Rich Colleges Receiving Richest Share of U.S. Aid

The federal government typically gives the wealthiest private universities, which often serve the smallest percentage of low-income students, significantly more financial aid money than their struggling counterparts with much greater shares of poor students.

Not sure what I think of this article. It talks about the amount of money distributed, but doesn't say who got the money and doesn't really describe the formula that determines distributions. While I'm not saying that I don't believe there are financial aid distribution inequities, the article doesn't do much to give a complete picture.

Doonesbury

Alex supports Howard Dean. Learn why.

ABCNEWS.com : Major Union to Endorse Dean Campaign

...the Service Employees International Union, which has 1.6 million members, said it would not announce its endorsement decision until next week, at the request of Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

AFSCME's endorsement is considered the holy grail for Democrats because the union spends more money on elections than any other. McEntee was key to Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign success by providing crucial, early support when other unions were backing Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Next week could see two endorsements instead of one. That would be amazing.

Washington Post: Dean May Opt Out Of Public Financing

Dean Apologizes for Remarks on Rebel Flag

Under attack from other candidates, he then refused to back away from his remarks at a debate in Boston on Tuesday night.

Dr. Dean's apology quelled the criticism from some of his rivals, and many African-American leaders attributed his gaffes to a lack of communications discipline rather than a deeper misunderstanding of blacks or the South.

As much as this is a non-issue being pursued by his opponents, Dean has got to learn how to deal with this type of criticism in a way that instantly removes credibility from the attacks. It's a potentially big problem.

NY Times: Lawyers at E.P.A. Say It Will Drop Pollution Cases

More pollution.

NY Times: Diplomacy: Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War

March to war.

NY Times: Sony and Bertelsmann Discuss Merger of Music Businesses

Media consolidation.

Los Angeles Times: Buffett and Prop. 13, the sequel

Before the recall, billionnaire and Schwarzenegger-advisor Warren Buffett suggested to the Wall Street Journal that California's Prop. 13 was wrong, using the taxes he pays for his home in Nebraska and his house in California as examples. Schwarzenegger distanced himself from these comments and promised not to raise taxes. Now Buffett has written to the Journal, accusing it of distorting his views:

Washington Post: "Escape by Voice Vote" By Harold Meyerson

Historians will have to determine the precise mix of White House hubris, xenophobia and mistrust of allies that contributed to our determination to hold sole control in post-Hussein Iraq. (Of course, the anti-Americanism rampant among many of our longtime allies played a role, too, but anyone with a long memory -- one that goes back at least three years -- can recall a time when the United States actually had the respect of the global community.) Now a new factor has popped up for historians' future consideration when they ponder why we wanted the occupation to ourselves. It turns out that Paul Bremer, our man in Baghdad, has decreed that come next year Iraq shall have a flat tax on individuals and businesses of 15 percent.

It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry. Is Iraq to become a laboratory for all those right-wing brainstorms that have gone nowhere in this country but that we are free to impose there during our short-order mandate? While we're at it, we could also outlaw stem cell research and elevate Charles Pickering to the Baghdad bench.

Nice.

Yesterday I blogged about the Democratic Debate tonight. Well, apparently Dick Gephardt's not going to be there.

I, for one, am glad not to have to hear Gephardt using the words "abominable," "miserable," and "failure" when talking about Bush. I wonder if someone else will pick up the "Dean is Newt Gingrich and wants to cut Medicare" banner or if the focus will simply be on the "Southerners with Confederate flags" comment flap.

In their opinion piece, "'Superbug' Threat," in today's Washington Post, Ramanan Laxminarayan and Mark Plotkin draw attention to the growing danger of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Another one to file under "Threats: Self-Inflicted."

Every day in the United States, 100 men, women and children -- 40,000 or more every year -- die from infections caused by bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

Why are our miracle drugs failing us? One reason -- well documented -- is that we have used them too often, to treat infections and conditions that more often than not could be defeated by the body's immune system without medical intervention. Another reason is that antibiotics have become omnipresent, in our food and water supply, as farmers feed them to cattle and poultry and spray them on crops. As we ingest them in low doses, bacteria become familiar with them and mutate to protect themselves.

Obviously bacteria don't mutate to protect themselves, but the ones with mutations that enable them to survive find a wide-open field where they don't have to compete with bacteria that don't survive. Some of these can kill, and our obsession with sanitation may be our undoing. Contributing to the threat is the prevalence of high-speed travel, leading to a quicker, more far-flung epidemic, as seen with the spread of SARS from China to other countries and continents.

However, it's unlikely that the human race will be wiped out. Some of us will survive, presumably hardier and hopefully wiser. Nonetheless, I'd hate to be among the ones who have to bury the dead.

NPR : 'Party Motivator' Ensures Good Fun

Suzy Choy loves to have a good time and she's found a way to get paid for it. Choy is a "party motivator." Her job is to make sure guests have fun at the weddings, bar mitzvahs and corporate events she's hired to attend. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Good work if you can get it.

Florida's Sen. Graham Won't Run Again

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham will retire from the Senate at the end of his term, closing a nearly 40-year career undefeated at the polls but unsuccessful in a career-capping campaign for president.

Florida's open seat next year also will become one of four in the South left by retiring Democratic senators -- the others in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina -- offering Republicans a unique opportunity to strengthen their hold on the U.S. Senate in a region that has become a GOP stronghold.

Damn it, Bob. You better help the next guy win, or we'll have one of Jeb's cronies sitting in your seat.

This Tuesday, CNN will broadcast the Democratic candidate debate from Boston at 4 PM PT. This debate, sponsored by CNN and Rock the Vote, will likely focus on the bloody week in Iraq, the GDP growth numbers and the larger economic picture, and "young" voter issues.

In case you can't watch the debate, the folks here at StudioGlyphic have put together this handy preview, encompassing 20 things to watch for:

Joe Wes Howie John Dennis John Dick Al Carol

1. Lieberman attacking Clark, Kerry, Gephardt, and Edwards for their wishy-washy stances on the Iraq War, with a focus on Clark.

2. Lieberman characterizing his support for the Iraq war as a courageous stance to take (and possibly getting booed for it).

3. Kerry and Lieberman attacking Clark's Democratic credentials.

4. Clark getting defensive and clarifying his stance multiple times.

5. Gephardt attacking Dean on Medicare statements.

6. Dean acting hurt and surprised and disappointed in the attack, then retaliating with "I've provided more health care than all my Washington opponents put together in their 75 years combined experience."

7. Gephardt and Kerry attacking Dean on statements about reaching out to poor white rural Southern voters.

8. Dean responding with "White southerners have supported the Republicans for 30 years and what have they got to show for it? They need jobs, health care, and education--just like African Americans, Latinos, and every other American."

9. Kerry attacking Dean and Gephardt on proposed middle-class tax "increases," with focus on Dean.

10. Dean saying that most middle class people getting a small tax cut while property taxes have gone up and education quality and services have gone down.

11. Kerry coming back by saying that Dean wants to raise taxes 20 times on the backs of the middle class.

12. Kucinich attacking Dean for not supporting US withdrawal from Iraq, with the undercurrent of "I'm the real liberal here."

13. Sharpton attacking Dean for being too white, with the undercurrent of "Jesse Jackson needs to step aside to make way for me."

14. Edwards mentioning his millworker father.

15. Kerry mentioning his Harley and extreme sport hobbies to pander to the Rock the Vote audience.

16. Dean mentioning his Internet activities and Wyclef Jean to pander to the Rock the Vote audience.

17. Gephardt using the words "abominable," "miserable," and "failure" when talking about Bush.

18. Edwards mentioning his free college plan to connect with the Rock the Vote audience.

19. Sharpton mentioning his child minister and youth activist background to connect with the Rock the Vote audience.

20. Judy Woodruff or other questioner rebuking Clark or Kerry for not answering a question.

Cars.com has this overview of the second-gen Prius. Amazingly enough, the car is longer and wider (qualifying as a mid-size sedan) and gets even better fuel mileage than the previous generation Prius. How is this possible? Lots of nifty technology tricks, including more computerized control of the vehicle's braking system as well as powering more components off the battery instead of the engine.

This is not the hybrid I would buy. But it's a great second step for Toyota. They intend to follow this with Toyota and Lexus SUVs featuring the same kind of hybrid technology, but what I'm waiting for is a fourth generation MR2 that looks as beautiful as the second generation MR2, weighs 250 lbs less, and puts out the equivalent of 180 hp while getting in excess of 40 mpg under extreme conditions.

No, no, this isn't some award for doing something stupid. It's the George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service, given by daddy Bush. Actually, this is old news. The award was announced October 5, but this is the first I heard about it.

From the AP:

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts will receive the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service.

Former President Bush will present the award to Kennedy, who will join former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as recipients.

The New York Daily News reports on the reactions to and the timing of the decision:

Letters and E-mails to the Bush library have been overwhelmingly negative, and a few small donors have vowed to stop sending contributions, Bush sources said.

The ex-President endorsed the recommendation of a Bush Library Foundation committee to give the award to Kennedy. The decision was made before the Iraq war.

Conservative columnist Georgie Anne Geyer writes in "Bush Sr. Sends Not-So-Subtle Message With Award To Kennedy" of the award betraying a growing policy rift between Bush the Elder and Bush the Younger:

Since the current President Bush veered away from the real war against terrorism in Afghanistan and went a'venturing in Iraq, much to his father's dismay, just about everybody close to Washington politics has known of the policy schism between father and son.

And won't it be interesting to analyze the speeches citing Teddy, who is surely one of W's primary political nemeses, for his public service and principles at the Bush Library Center on the Texas A&M campus on Nov. 7? One can bet they will be subtle -- but also very clear.

Guess I'll be waiting with Georgie to see how things go down this week.

Dick Meyer is my hero for today.

CBS News | Call Him President Backwards

Sometimes a big 100-watt goes off over my tired, graying head and I see things in a whole new light. When it’s the president of the United States who turns on the light, well, it makes me proud to be an American.

Thanks to some philosophy President Bush shared the other day, I realized that I’ve been looking at this whole Iraq thing bass-ackwards. The sorry truth is, my whole perspective on stuff like current events is pretty gloom-and-doom and entrenchified. I think that’s the word.

Read on.