Monday (New week, same old trolls)

Monday April 20,2009

. . . . .Bob Dylan's new album is released at midnight tonight, I've already heard it, as have others, rave reviews by the way. April is National Poetry Month, and Bob is one of our greatest living poets. The two make a nice mix, and I swear I'm Cylon anyhow, (inside joke) . . . .

"There must be some kind of way out of here, said the Joker to the Thief,"
 
. . . .OK, the playlist, I admit, is not diverse, but I love it. All Bruce, all rave-up rockers, enjoy!

"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief."

. . . .Going to spend this one answering e-mails and reader responses while still keeping track of, and keeping you all informed on, the issues of the day.

"Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,"

. . . .As per normal, last week's issues and feedback brought up a central issue that I try to combat each day, that of misinformation and viral nonsense creating hysteria and overwhelming fact, critical thinking and analytical reasoning. I swear people, not stopping to think, investigate and find out truth is going to kill us faster than global climate change, some days, I swear it, based on what I read, see and hear.

"None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."


. . . .First off and up to bat, my e-mail inbox is getting flooded with the same e-mail being forwarded to me over and over by well-meaning friends, it's the one concerning H.R. 875. My good friends Tom Summerlin, Alan Boyce and myself were talking about this one on Saturday night. The e-mail, which I'll quote below, is a rather hysterical one concerning "the end of organic farming", and as per normal for one of these pieces that's gone viral, does have shred, a tiny shred of truth in it, but like the best of these, has been taken out of context and used to create a piece of disinformation. I'll quote the e-mail in full, and then go after all 6 myths in it. With each myth, I'll provide the myth, and then the fact, with links to The Daily Green, one of the leading subject matter expert websites on organic farming, and links to Open Congress, the website devoted to transparency in legislation, which provides all the necessaries behind a bill, any bill that is presently in Congress; who originated it, it's current progress, whether or not it's still in committee, whether or not it's been voted, who the money and lobbies behind it are, and what the blog and website buzz about it is, along with any hard AP, Reuters, or UPI News that may have been reported on it. It's an excellent resource for any bill that you're interested in, and I highly recommend it.

. . . First, the e-mail itself:

"PLEASE SPREAD THIS NEWS AND VOICE YOURSELVES NOW! PUT THE JOBS OF THE SENATE ON THE LINE.
"WHO EVER CONTROLS THE WORLD FOOD SUPPLY, CONTROLS US ALL. JUST THINK, MAJOR FARMERS AND YOU ARE NOW FORBIDDEN TO GROW ORGANIC HEALTHY FOOD IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD WITHOUT THE GOVERNMENTS APPROVED PESTICIDES. IT IS CRIMINAL. THEY ARE GETTING READY TO PASS THIS BILL RIGHT NOW. IT IS NOW AGAINST THE LAW TO HAVE A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH.
"NO MORE ORGANIC GARDENING. SERIOUS!!!!! YOUR HEALTH IS IN JEOPARDY
READ BELOW!!!!!!!!!!

"Bills are:
House H.R. 875
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875
"Senate S 425
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-425
"There is an enormous rush to get this into law within the next 2 weeks before people realize what is happening.
"Main backer and lobbyist is (guess who) Monsanto
"Bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to "make sure there is no danger to the public food supply".
"This will include backyard gardens that grow food only for a family and not for sales.
"THIS IS DICTATORSHIP in any way you look at it.
"If this passes then NO more heirloom clean seeds but only Monsanto genetically altered seeds that are now showing up with unexpected diseases in humans.
"There is a video on the subject.
http://www.voteronpaul.com/newsDetail.php?Food-Safety-Modernization-Act-HR-875-Criminalization-of-Organic-Farms-222
"The name on this outrageous food plan is Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
"(Really makes it sound like the feds are trying protect us. LIES )
"Let me be crystal clear here......
"This has NOTHING to do with food safety.
"This is only about TOTAL CONTROL by the feds in our lives.
"Get on that phone Monday and burn up the wires.
"Get anyone else you can to do the same thing.
"The House and Senate WILL pass this if they are not massively threatened with loss of their position. They only fear your voice and your vote.
"BOY! WILL PHARMACEUTICAL PROFITS GO THROUGH THE ROOF OR WHAT!!! I THINK I'LL GET UP IN THE MORNING, IF I CAN, AND GO TO THE HOSPITAL TO GET AN ANTI-MUTANT SHOT. THE NUMBER OF HEATH DEFECT AND DISEASE CASES WILL BE WORSE THAN THE NATIONAL DEFICIT.
"AND ONCE AGAIN, FDA COULD CARE LESS..........THEY ARE IN BED TOGETHER.........THANKS TO YOU SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND HOUSE. AMERICA JUST GOT CAUGHT SLEEPING AGAIN. CAN YOU SAY DUMB-DOWN?"

. . . .I'm sure that you all are quite familiar with it, and just as sure that many of you are pretty certain that it must contain some shreds of truth. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!! Here we go, I'll go after each myth in it one by one:

MYTH: H.R. 875 "makes it illegal to grow your own garden" and would result in the "criminalization of the backyard gardener."
FACT: There is no language in the bill that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens. This bill is focused on ensuring the safety of foods sold in supermarkets.

Resource: The Daily Green and Open Congress H.R. 875

MYTH: H.R. 875 would mean a "goodbye to farmers markets" because the bill would "require such a burdensome complexity of rules, inspections, licensing, fees, and penalties for each farmer who wishes to sell locally - a fruit stand, at a farmers market."
FACT: There is no language in the bill that would result in farmers markets being regulated, penalized any fines, or shut down. Farmers markets would be able to continue to flourish under the bill. In fact, the bill would insist that imported foods meet strict safety standards to ensure that unsafe imported foods are not competing with locally-grown foods.

Resource: The Daily Green and Open Congress H.R. 875 

MYTH: H.R. 875 would result in the "death of organic farming."
FACT: There is no language in the bill that would stop organic farming. The National Organic Program (NOP) is under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Food Safety Modernization Act only addresses food safety issues under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Resource: The Daily Green and Open Congress H.R. 875 

MYTH: The bill would implement a national animal ID system.

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would implement a national animal ID system. Animal identification issues are under the jurisdiction of the USDA. The Food Safety Modernization Act addresses issues under the jurisdiction of the FDA.

Resource: The Daily Green and Open Congress H.R. 875 

MYTH: The bill is supported by the large agribusiness industry.
FACT: No large agribusiness companies have expressed support for this bill. This bill is being supported by several Members of Congress who have strong progressive records on issues involving farmers markets, organic farming, and locally-grown foods (Barbara Lee, etc.). Also, H.R. 875 is the only food safety legislation that has been supported by all the major consumer and food safety groups, including:

• Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention
• Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Consumer Federation of America
• Consumers Union
• Food & Water Watch
• The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Safe Tables Our Priority
• Trust for America’s Health

Resource: The Daily Green and Open Congress H.R. 875 

MYTH: The bill will pass the Congress next week without amendments or debate.
FACT: Food safety legislation has yet to be considered by any Congressional committee.

Resource: The Daily Green and Open Congress H.R. 875 

"No reason to get excited, the thief, he kindly spoke."

. . . .Speaking of Tom Summerlin, he told me of his brother-in-law, Bob who has built a wood-fired boiler to heat his daughter's house with. Now bear in mind that the house is 4,000 square feet, and is over a 3,000 square foot garage, all located where we all are, up in Michigan, a Zone 2 state. The boiler has a burn chamber that is 3 feet by 4 feet, encased in a metal jacket that holds the water, and acts as the radiating boiler. The wood-burning boiler is housed in it's own building outside the house, the heated water piping runs underground (most efficient, same temperature all year) and is tied to the thermostat, and has a solenoid operated damper and fan, so that when the thermostat in the house calls for it, the damper opens up, the fan kicks in and brings oxygen into the burn chamber to accelerate the burn on the wood and bring the temperature of the water back up. As well, the gas furnace still exists to act as a back-up. Tom is not sure of the hours involved, but the materials were around $3500. The night back in March when I talked to him that he was out in the boiler's building looking at it, the outside temperature had to be right around 32 degrees, but the interior of the house was at 70 degrees, and it was evening. The furnace had not kicked on all day. As well, two of the issues with wood heat are basically eliminated; (1) the wood burning smell doesn't exist in the house, as the burn chamber is in an exterior structure, and the normal "dryness" associated with wood heat doesn't exist, since it's a boiler system. Given the overall investment, the efficiency of the system, and the price of heating a home, a fantastic "green" project, that also reduces dependence on the grid, and consumes less of the mass forms of energy that are available. Go Bob!

"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke"

. . . .I want to thank Dave P. for his contribution, this link to a video series on the Federal Reserve Banking system that may open your eyes up. Thanks Dave. Go ahead and give it viewing folks, a lot of the things that you think you may have known, you may have been misled or misinformed about.

"But you and I we've been through that, and this is not our fate."

Steven W. out in Idaho wrote in response to the piece that I linked to in Time magazine concerning the Obama White House's use of behavioral psychologists and behavioral economists to try and tweak our behavior as an entity, a body politic into saving more, getting greener, valuing education more and being healthier:

"...aren't these economic and psychological scientists the same ones who turned us inot the mindless consumers we've become through advertisements.
...i had a thought one day about political elections, every four years the media profits, i won't throw out a percentage but it has to be an extremely high one considering the billions and billions of dollars spent on advertising. My question is with all the power the media has who really elects our politicians? They tell me to vote and make a difference, well i voted so why do I feel so helpless? Why do I feel like a sheep? "

. . . .Excellent thought Steven, but I don't think it's exactly the same set of people. These folks that have a connection to the White House are a little too esoteric and deep for the folks in advertising, and the buffoons in the media, but it is exactly the same principles in use here. In this case, the only hope is that what the President, his staff and The White House are nudging us to to do is ultimately, in the long run, good for all of us, and as opposed to television advertising, isn't trying to urge us to buy something unhealthy for us. Personally, I could use a little urging to eat healthier, take better care of myself, think greener and do some serious long-term saving, not investing. 

"So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late"

. . . . .So guess who is the first one to ask people to make budget cuts? Yes, President Obama has ordered his Cabinet to be the first ones to start making cuts.

"All along the watchtower, princes kept the view."

. . . .After last week's sheer idiocy of "Teabagging" (I don't know anyone who makes over $250K a year, the only people affected by the tax increase, nor, I would bet my rent, did anyone in those crowds, and I bet that everyone in the crowd had already gotten their first paycheck with the increased take home pay from the payroll tax cuts that the President enacted. Idiots!) that failed so miserably around the Nation, (other than Fox News reporters proving once again that they're not journalists, and it's not news, not when you join the crowd and become the news and prove on camera that you're there to entertain, not report), I find it refreshing to see the President proving once again, through action, that the misinformation and lies being spread by the Right and the Republicans are just that, a load of bullshit.

. . . .Let's go over it once again. George W. Bush the Republican President, with Tom DeLay, the disgraced Republican House leader along with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove presided over:
- The largest expansion of Federal government in history, in a classic example of Orwellian 1984-speak, taking the twisting of the word "conservative" to new lows.
- Taking a budget surplus of $5.6 trillion dollars left him by Clinton, and immediately giving a tax cut to his supporters, the top 1% of wage earners in the U.S., managed over 8 years to run up a record-shattering $4.8 billion dollar deficit when he left office.
- Waged a war in the wrong country for the wrong reasons that cost 4,000 young American lives, cost over $6 billion dollars a month, and let the perpetrators and planners of 9/11 run unmolested through Afghanistan and Pakistan and allowed Al-Quaeda, Hamas, and the Taliban to grow even stronger.
- Let an entire American city be destroyed by a hurricane, while he watched and didn't care and allowed a few thousand American citizens to be killed for the simple crime of living in the wrong city and not being White.
- Completely deregulated the banking and investment industry, allowing his buddies and cronies to steal from, rape, pillage, loot and reap billions from good, hard-working, trusting folks, leading to the current global economic collapse that will eventually affect everyone.
- On 9/12/01, completely subverted the American Constitution, and secretly suspended 9 of the first 10 Amendments, the Bill of Rights.  (Clicking the link takes you to the Department of Justice documents released in March that carry Bush's signature.)

"While all the women came and went, barefoot servants too"

. . . .Matt Taibbi, over in Rolling Stone, one of the consistently best political reporters around, in this week's issue, sums up the GOP's Obama hysteria nicely in article titled The Class Clowns, excerpted in part, below:

Following the Republican Party of late has been a movingly depressing experience, sort of like watching Old Yeller die — if Old Yeller were a worm-infested feral bitch who spent the past eight years biting children at bus stops and shitting in neighborhood swimming pools. As a useful force in American politics, the Republicans have been dead for a while now. But in the seven months since Sarah Palin's nomination, they have taken on an intriguing new role: providing much-needed comic relief during dark times, serving as the unofficial rodeo clowns of the Financial Crisis Era.
If there were any doubts about the once-mighty party's hilarious new role in American society, they vanished in recent weeks, as the Republican leadership's attempt to stop the passage of Barack Obama's budget turned into one of the most half-assed public-relations campaigns in congressional history. Watching this amazingly amateurish performance by a party that not long ago was led by highly skilled and ruthless political assassins like Tom DeLay and Karl Rove was just the latest bummer in the spiraling American-decline story. Not only don't we make good cars or airplanes anymore — now our Republicans have apparently lost their touch for evil politics.
The comedy began in late March when, after weeks of sniping about the high spending in the president's budget, the Republicans — steered by House Minority Leader John Boehner, one of the few influential Republicans in Congress to survive the Bush era — called a press conference to release an 18-page "alternative budget." The document quickly entered Washington lore as one of the most preposterous things a politician has ever handed, with a straight face, to a reporter on the Hill. Intending to counter accusations by Democrats that Republicans had become a "Party of No," blindly opposing every Obama initiative without a real plan, Boehner sternly waved the thinnish "Republican Road to Recovery" pamphlet at reporters gathered at his presser.

"The president said, 'We haven't seen a budget yet out of Republicans,'" Boehner croaked. "Well, it's not true, because here it is, Mr. President."
Except that "it" contained almost nothing inside. The actual text, which included no specifics or numbers at all, was full of wildly general phrases like "Republicans would fully fund our ongoing commitments overseas while devoting the entirety of any savings from reduced fighting to deficit reduction." As one observer put it, it was like an invasion plan that read, "Send ships, land troops, kill Germans."
Not only that, the pamphlet looked like it had been laid out by a college student trying desperately to meet his professor's requirement for "20 pages, double-spaced" — unnecessarily huge graphs on almost every page, fonts jacked up to readable-for-the-legally-blind size, absurdly placed clip-art images (to wit: photo of cute child with broken arm, gratefully gazing at the caption "Provide Universal Access to Affordable Health Care"). While reporters flipped through the idiotic text, searching in vain for content, Minority Whip Eric Cantor, who had already made brief introductory remarks, stealthily slipped out of the room, leaving Boehner to the wolves.
The onslaught started quickly. "There's no detail in here," grumbled one reporter.
"This is the blueprint for where we're going," Boehner barked. "Are you asking about some other document?"
Reporters stared at each other. "What about some numbers?" another asked.
Republicans, Boehner dithered, would provide details on the budget "next week."
Opposition politicians rushed on the air to rip the Republican nonbudget budget to shreds. The Democratic National Committee released an online ad that opened with a graphic: "This DNC ad is brought to you by the number zero. That's how many numbers are in the GOP's 'budget.'" Even White House press secretary Robert Gibbs got in on the act, lauding the document's depth. "It took me several minutes to read it," he quipped.

. . .For the entire article, which I highly recommend, check out the latest print edition of Rolling Stone on newsstands now.

"Outside in the distance, a wildcat did growl"
 
. . . . . .Meghan McCain, John's daughter and one of a handful of Republicans with a brain, (George Will, Steve Schmidt, Christopher Buckley among them) spoke to the Log Cabin Republicans this weekend, saying that "Old school Republicans" are "scared shitless", among other things:

Speaking to an affectionate crowd of Log Cabin Republicans on Saturday evening, Meghan McCain ridiculed the party her father headed this past election, declaring that "old school Republicans" were "scared shitless" of the changing landscape.
The Senator's daughter, who has quickly become something of an iconic figure in the gay conservative community since the end of the election, took repeated shots at the GOP for its antiquated mores.

"I feel too many Republicans want to cling to past successes," said McCain. "There are those who think we can win the White House and Congress back by being 'more' conservative. Worse, there are those who think we can win by changing nothing at all about what our party has become. They just want to wait for the other side to be perceived as worse than us. I think we're seeing a war brewing in the Republican Party. But it is not between us and Democrats. It is not between us and liberals. It is between the future and the past."
Later, she called out those officials in the Republican tent who insist that tactical improvements, technology and brass-knuckle politicking are the path back to relevance.
"Simply embracing technology isn't going to fix our problem," she said. "Republicans using Twitter and Facebook isn't going to miraculously make people think we're cool again. Breaking free from obsolete positions and providing real solutions that don't divide our nation further will. That's why some in our party are scared. They sense the world around them is changing and they are unable to take the risk to jump free of what's keeping our party down."

. . . .Go Meghan, after all it was only last Friday that Rush Limbaugh, referring to her father, Senator John McCain said that he (McCain) was "proof that torture works" because the "North Vietnamese broke him", as reported by Think Progress.

"Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl."

. . . .And while we're on the topic of drooling, mouth-breathing, barely functional morons, Rush was paired up with his twin brother in idiocy, Sean Hannity by Charles Barkley in an interview, where he tore into an "unpatriotic" Rush Limbaugh and and "idiot" Sean Hannity:

NBA great Charles Barkley dipped into some political punditry during a Tonight Show appearance on Friday, tearing into conservative talking heads who have rooted for President Obama to fail.
"I mean, you look at this country now, we've got all these foreclosures, we've got all these people laid off. We should be behind him 110 percent, hoping he's successful," Barkley said. "And I just thought it was unpatriotic and basically B.S. for Rush Limbaugh and that idiot Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck and all those idiots to not root for this guy."
Barkley is no stranger to the national political debate, and he said last year that he's planning a run for Alabama governor in 2014. But it's pretty clear at this point that he won't be on the GOP ticket.
"Neither party is anything to write home about," Barkley told Jay Leno. "But the Republican Party just went right-wing whack nut job on America and screwed up the country."

. . . .Now that the truth has come out about torture and America's use of it, it's time to have an open dialogue, and to consider criminal charges against those responsible. I agree with Harry Shearer, over in the Huffington Post:

Several years too late, we've been dragged kicking and screaming into what a democratic republic should be engaged in: a public debate on whether such a nation is ever well-advised to engage in the torture of captives. Of course, the motives adduced are always the best--we've been attacked, the government has to protect the country--but it's not the proclaimed motives that separate the most admirable countries in the world from the most despised, but the behavior in pursuit of those motives.
Buried in the rhetoric pro and con are a couple of facts which deserve wider exposure. First, as the New York Times reported, waterboarding was performed on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times in one month, and 83 times on Abu Zubaydah. Put aside the question about whether the CIA is hung up on the number 83. This technique, which the United States has prosecuted (as a war crime) both Japanese and American soldiers for using, is reputed to be so wickedly effective that only 35 seconds of it had Abu Zubaydah willing to tell interrogators everything he knew. We'll get to what he knew in a moment. But, if it's so instantly effective, why in the world would it need to be administered almost two-hundred times within a one-month period? It's either not as effective as advertised, or the practitioners had another reason for persisting.

. . . .This is a great one by Daniel Esty, here on the eve of Earth Day, which nicely ties together, and connects the dots on the Big 3 issues facing us right now; the financial crisis, regulation, and green sustainability:

Talk has begun to turn to the new economy that will emerge from the present collapse. General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt has suggested that the current crisis is not just a recession but a fundamental "reset" of how business gets done. And Time magazine has taken up this theme with a reset cover story. But there has been little discussion of exactly what changes - in principles and practices -- should be made so that we rebuild our economy on firmer foundations. As we celebrate Earth Day this week, it is a good time to commit to "sustainability" as a centerpiece of a revitalized regulatory system.
For the past three decades, debate has raged over whether and how to deregulate. But while markets offer the prospect of promoting innovation, growth, and prosperity, few now believe that capitalism is self-correcting or that the private sector needs only minimal supervision. From the demise of Lehman Brothers and AIG to the skullduggery of Bernie Madoff and Allan Stanford, the signs of inadequate regulation and market failure surround us.

We need regulations which ensure that companies cannot structure their operations so that any upside gains accrue to their owners (or worse yet their managers), while risks or costs get shifted onto society as a whole. In the banking sector, rules against over-leveraging are urgently required. The recently released Turner Report in the UK outlines the first steps in this direction that should be taken. More generally, financial reporting rules must be designed to expose hidden risks and externalized costs.
We should likewise insist that companies which send emissions up a smokestack or out an effluent pipe cease their pollution or pay for the harm inflicted on the community. In our "reset" world, economic success cannot come at the price of harms imposed on the public in the form of contaminated air and water or risk of climate change. Thus while we lay the foundation for a more sustainable economy, let's similarly adopt rules that provide for a sustainable environmental future. This will require overhauling the traditional approach to environmental regulation which countenances way too much in the way of externalities by offering "permits" up to a certain level of harm.

. . . The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama is meeting with credit card lenders on Thursday to discuss their destructive practices with the public:

Congress and the White House are taking aim at controversial credit-card practices, from higher interest rates on past balances to fees for paying by phone or online.
In a bid to aid consumers hit hard by the recession, lawmakers are pushing legislation this week that would ban a long list of credit-card practices that essentially amount to higher costs for consumers. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has scheduled a meeting with executives from credit-card issuers at the White House on Thursday, adding to pressure on the industry. President Barack Obama plans to attend.
The efforts come months after the Federal Reserve issued new consumer-protection rules that cover most of the provisions lawmakers are considering, but don't take effect until July 2010. Congressional action would only speed up the changes modestly -- a House version gives card companies a year from the bill's signing -- but would codify the new provisions in law and allow lawmakers to take credit for aiding consumers during the downturn.
The Senate Banking Committee late last month narrowly passed a measure that goes beyond the House version. It would, among other things, ban a company from considering a consumer's bad credit from other loans -- an overdue home or car payment, for instance -- to change interest rates for that company's credit card.
The House Financial Services Committee plans to vote Wednesday on legislation that includes the provisions cleared by the Fed earlier this year, along with other rules such as a ban on marketing credit cards to minors and the ban on fees for phone or Internet payments. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D., N.Y.), said she hopes her credit-card legislation will pass the House again -- it cleared easily last September -- and be reconciled with the Senate version to reach the president's desk before summer.
The latest battle over credit cards comes as regulators and lawmakers respond to years of easy credit that put Americans in deeper debt and fueled some of today's troubles in financial markets.
The Fed's regulations, approved in December, came after years of work drawing up policies, soliciting public comments and field-testing sample disclosures to make sure cardholders could understand the fine print.
Among the key regulations set to take effect in July 2010:
Banks can't treat payments as late unless consumers have a "reasonable amount of time" to make the payment; at least three weeks before the due date.
Banks must allocate minimum payments to balances with the highest rate first, or pro-rata among all balances.
Banks cannot raise interest rates from the opening amount unless it's a variable rate or an introductory rate with an increase disclosed in advance; or a year after the account opens, a 45-day advance notice has been made; or if a minimum payment is received more than 30 days after the due date.
A ban on double-cycle billing, which allows banks to calculate interest based on a prior month's balance in addition to the current month, even if the prior month had been paid off.
Consumer groups have been pushing lawmakers to act, saying cardholders need relief now. The current rules "give very little help to families that are struggling with their debt," said Lauren Saunders, managing attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. "Once you miss a payment you lose most protection."
But the industry is warning that some of the efforts -- including speeding up implementation -- would paralyze issuers and force them to raise interest rates, cut credit lines and cancel accounts, hurting consumers who need credit.
The Fed's new rules "upend" the card business and fast-forwarding them would "create huge implementation challenges," said Kenneth Clayton, senior vice president of card policy at the American Bankers Association.
Many banks are already trying to raise rates on the riskiest consumers as their credit-card businesses posted hefty losses while cardholders lose their jobs and fall behind on payments. Industry officials warn that adding restrictions when banks are under pressure from existing strains could choke some consumers' access to credit.

. . . .And the cluelessness goes on, just before publication tonight, the CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase in a letter to shareholders says that "the war in Iraq is to blame for the financial crisis". "Nuff said!

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do, let 'em know. Seize the precious moments, you don't know when they'll be gone. This rodeo is a one-way ticket, and no one gets out alive. We don"t get to dictate the circumstances and terms of how that ticket gets punched. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow, this ain't no dress rehearsal, it's about right here, right now.

The Desolation Angel