"The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore." - John Adams  7/3/1776

 America’s leading public finance watchdog has sounded a warning that the US economy is vulnerable to hostile financial actions by nations that are not its “allies”.

David Walker, the US comptroller general, indicated that the huge holdings of American government debt by countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Libya could leave a powerful financial weapon in the hands of countries that may be hostile to US corporate and diplomatic interests.

Mr Walker told The Times that foreign investors have more control over the US economy than Americans, leaving the country in a state that was “financially imprudent”.

He said: “More and more of our debt is held by foreign countries – some of which are our allies and some are not.”

Mr Walker, who heads the Government agency that is responsible for auditing the national accounts and is also the arm of Congress that scrutinis-es spending by the Administration, said that the US has been forced to rely on foreign investors more because Americans are saving so little.

According to US Treasury Department statistics, Japan is the biggest foreign holder of US Treasury bonds, with almost $623 billion (£310 billion) of US government debt as of December last year. Mainland China is the second biggest investor, with about $397 billion, and oil exporters, which include Iran and Saudi Arabia, had $110 billion.

The UK, while the biggest foreign investor in US equities, is the fourth-biggest holder of US Treasuries.

While Mr Walker referred to Britain as “the best ally the US could hope for”, he told The Times that “anybody who looks at that list will see that some of the countries there are not traditional US allies. You will see that China, Korea and a number of Opec nations are there. Not all the countries on the list share the same economic, national and foreign polices as the US.”

The worry is that should any of these foreign nations choose to reduce their holdings significantly, it would trigger sharp falls in US government bond prices, driving up their yield, which would raise borrowing costs sharply for American consumers and companies. While most economists take the view that countries such as China are unlikely to reduce their US bond holdings because they would also suffer a fall in the value of their own investments, China could still be perceived as holding a powerful financial weapon.

I know that she dissed Hillary (wasn't fond of that) but I believe that Air America humbled her in that regard.  She's back on Nova M Radio and is really bringing a number of viable topics to the political arena.  Her commentary on McCain, the oil crisis and Iraq is brilliant.  I wish Larry King had given her more time but the FLDS fiasco in Texas cut in on their segment and she maybe got two minutes.

http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/

Saw this comment on the CNN Political Ticker...

"OBAMA (P) & CLINTON (VP) 2008-2014"

Someone's got some weird math going on, eh?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/02/analysis-the-obama-test/#more-8364

DENVER - Mayor John Hickenlooper's annual State of the City address may get more attention for what wasn't included than what was.

At the start of the event Tuesday morning, City Council President Michael Hancock introduced singer Rene Marie to perform the national anthem.

Instead, she performed the song "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," which is also known as the "black national anthem."

When she finished, the audience responded with mild applause. The national anthem was never performed.

Marie told 9NEWS she kept her plans to switch songs quiet until the very last moment. She says only she, her husband and a friend knew she was going to sing something other than the "Star-Spangled Banner."

She says she wanted to express her love of her country by mixing the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" with the melody of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

"When I decided to sing my version, what was going on in my head was: 'I want to express how I feel about living in the United States, as a black woman, as a black person,'" said Marie.

Hickenlooper's staff picked Marie to sing the national anthem. The mayor says he believes Marie did not intend to offend anyone or make a political statement.

When asked if he was offended, Hickenlooper said, "You know I was more confused and I think I was more – what I was, was disappointed and confused and that's why I wanted to talk to her."

"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson in 1899 and set to music by his brother in 1900.

City Councilman Charlie Brown took to talk radio Tuesday afternoon to criticize the absence of the national anthem at the State of the City proceedings.

"There is no substitute for the national anthem, period," Brown said. "And that's what really bothered me. You know when we fly the flag, the American flag, it's always the highest flag, as it should be. And that didn't come across today, that didn't happen today."

In hindsight, both Brown and Hickenlooper say they should have stopped Marie or began singing themselves.

Marie says if she had the benefit of doing it over, she would sing the same song.

When asked if she would apologize for what happened she said, "No I do not."

Marie has been singing professionally for 10 years.

Brown says he doesn't have a problem with people expressing their views, but he says Marie chose the wrong venue.

Summary: All three network evening newscasts misrepresented retired Gen. Wesley Clark's comments about Sen. John McCain on Face The Nation, with none noting that Clark praised McCain as a "hero" for his Vietnam war service. ABC's David Wright asserted that McCain's experience as a POW made Clark's comments "especially provocative." CBS' Dean Reynolds falsely suggested that Clark had questioned McCain's patriotism and had "critici[zed]" McCain's "service, including five years as a POW." And NBC's Brian Williams falsely suggested that Clark had impugned McCain's "war record."

In their June 30 evening news programs, all three broadcast networks misrepresented comments retired Gen. Wesley Clark made about Sen. John McCain on the June 29 broadcast of CBS' Face The Nation. ABC News correspondent David Wright asserted that McCain's experience as a prisoner of war made Clark's comments "especially provocative" without telling viewers that Clark had said -- just moments prior to the comments Wright aired -- that "I certainly honor his [McCain's] service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of war." While also ignoring Clark's praise of McCain's POW record, CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds falsely suggested that Clark had questioned McCain's patriotism and had "critici[zed]" McCain's "service, including five years as a POW." And Brian Williams, anchor of NBC's Nightly News, falsely suggested that Clark had impugned McCain's "war record" and that Clark's comments contrasted with Williams' own account of McCain's heroic service, when, in fact, in the very comments that Williams, too, left out, Clark praised McCain's heroism.

In delivering their reports, all three networks also deceptively cropped Clark's comments, each airing a video clip of Clark saying, "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president." But as in reports on cable news channels, neither Wright nor Reynolds nor Williams reported or in any way indicated that in making that remark, Clark was repeating Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer's words. Indeed, Clark's assertion came in response to Schieffer's statement that unlike McCain, Sen. Barack Obama has not "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down."

The reports followed a day of distortions of Clark's comments oncable news, including MSNBC anchor Monica Novotny's false claim that Clark had "blasted McCain's military record."

The list of opposing Senators has grown: Biden (D-DE) - Boxer (D-CA) - Brown (D-OH) - Cantwell (D-WA) - Dodd (D-CT) - Durbin (D-IL) - Feingold (D-WI) - Harkin (D-IA) - Kerry (D-MA) - Lautenberg (D-NJ) - Leahy (D-VT) - Menendez (D-NJ) - Sanders (I-VT) - Schumer (D-NY) - Wyden (D-OR.

Unfortunately, our presumptive Democratic Nominee has yet to join them in opposition.  Based on his expressed support of it yesterday, he will likely maintain his stance in hopes of developing his image on being strong on National security.

This is about holding people accountable for illegal and extra-constitutional conduct.  I remain disappointed with Obama's position here and question his reasoning.

12 Sep 2007 // Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) requested that the Department of Education’s Inspector General (IG) investigate why federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) funds are being spent on educational products sold by Ignite! Learning, a company founded and headed by Neil Bush, President Bush’s younger brother.

Neil Bush, who has no education background, is best known for his role in the failure of Silverado Savings and Loan, which cost taxpayers $1.6 billion. CREW is asking the IG to discover why federal money is being funneled to a company with no proven track record of effectiveness, but so happens to be run by the president’s brother.

Congress has set rigorous standards for the types of educational approaches and products on which NCLB funds can be spent, but CREW’s research shows that Ignite! products do not meet those criteria. In fact, there is no scientific data, as defined by NCLB, supporting the effectiveness of Ignite!’s products.

CREW’s three-month investigation revealed that school districts are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, including NCLB funds, on Ignite!’s Curriculum on Wheels (COW), a cart-mounted video projector and hard drive loaded with a year’s supply of Ignite!’s social studies, science, or math curricula. At a standard price of $3,800-$4,200 per unit, the COW is a very expensive device with limited use. A recent New York Times article about the use of the COW in Spotsylvania, Virginia, put the cost into perspective: each school in the district receives $1,000 "to cover all the lab supplies, equipment and other expenses connected with science for an entire year." Adding to the initial expense, schools must pay an annual $1,000 licensing, upkeep and upgrade fee in order to retain the COW for more than one year.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, "It is astonishing that taxpayer dollars are being spent on unproven educational products to the financial benefit of the president’s brother. The IG should investigate whether children’s educations are being sacrificed so that Neil Bush can rake in federal funds."

"If Ignite! is to continue receiving NCLB funding, its products must be held to NCLB’s stringent standards. With the education of our nation’s students at stake, we hope that the IG spearheads an audit immediately."

This is a day of national consecration. And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; and the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

Teddy Roosevelt said:

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. ... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. ... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else."

Roosevelt failed to mention (alphabetically) African-Americans, Arab-Americans, Asian-Americans, Australian-Americans, Canadian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Indian-Americans, Iraqi-Americans, Israeli-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Latin-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native-Americans, Russian-Americans, Swiss-Americans, etc.  After all, he was a self-proclaimed "Progressive Republican" (another hyphen) and a separatist.  I'm not suggesting we return to his vision of America, just using it to portray a partial view.

Within all of the hyphenation, there is even further division by gender, sexual preference, political party affiliation, religion, income and an entire hosts of things we use to define our individuality. 

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a U.S. Government complex of four sites with deep underground storage caverns created in salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast that store emergency supplies of crude oil.

InventoryCurrent inventory:    Click to open inventory update window

Highest inventory -  On April 2, 2008, the SPR inventory exceeded 700 million barrels, the highest level ever previously held.  The former record was reached in late August 2005, just days before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, causing the SPR to conduct emergency releases.  Repayment of the Katrina loans and resumption of the RIK program (in 2007) has restored the inventory to its former level and beyond.

Current storage capacity - 727 million barrels

Current days of import protection in SPR - 58 days (Maximum days of import protection in SPR - 118 days in 1985)

International Energy Agency requirement - 90 days of import protection (both public and private stocks)
(SPR and private company import protection - approximately 118 days)

Average price paid for oil in the Reserve - $28.42 per barrel

Maximum drawdown capability - 4.4 million barrels per dayTime for oil to enter U.S. market - 13 days from Presidential decision

McCain event canceled over fundraiser's rape 'joke'

Posted: 09:06 AM ET

Sen. John McCain has made reaching out to women voters an important factor in his campaign.

WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain has called off a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who joked about rape during a 1990 gubernatorial run in the state.

The Texan, Republican Clayton Williams, made the joke during his failed campaign against Democrat Ann Richards. Williams compared rape to the weather, saying, "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

He also compared Richards to the cattle on his ranch, saying he would "head her and hoof her and drag her through the dirt."

Williams' comments made national news at the time and remain easy to find on the Internet. Even so, McCain's campaign said it hadn't known about the remarks.

"These were obviously incredibly offensive remarks that the campaign was unaware of at the time it was scheduled," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said. "It's positive that he did apologize at the time, but the comments are nonetheless offensive."