Friday, July 14, 2006

Most Americans plan to vote for Democrats
..the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.
Despite Hezbollah's Ties to Iran and Syria, It Also Acts Alone
The Bush administration was quick to pin responsibility on Iran and Syria when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers this week. Yet those countries may not have specifically planned and ordered the raid that has brought the Middle East to the edge of war, U.S. officials and terrorism experts say.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Friday, July 07, 2006

Quick Overview

  • The U.S. Labor Department reported the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.6% in June with an increase in non-farm payrolls of 121,000, less than expected.

  • Canada's unemployment rate remained at 6.1% in June.

  • Japan's increased its estimate of 2006-2007 GDP growth from 1.9% to 2.1%. Industrial production was up 1.5% in May, more than expected.

  • The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 73 billion cubic feet to 2.615 trillion cubic feet.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Noron with Cindy Sheehan

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human: Aldous Huxley

Quick Overview

  • Initial jobless claims slipped by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 313,000 in the week ending July 1, the Labor Department said.

  • The National Association of Realtors reported its May index for pending sales of existing homes rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3% to 113.4 from April's 111.9.

  • The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index was 57.0 down from 60.1 in May (50 and above point to expanding activity)

  • New Zealand's unemployment rate was 3.9% in the first quarter of 2006.

  • The Bank of Indonesia cut its key interest rate from 12.50% to 12.25%.

  • The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
    Supplies of crude oil were down 2.4 million barrels to 341.3 million barrels.
    Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 700,000 barrels
    Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 600,000 barrels.
    Over the past four weeks, gasoline demand is up 1.4% YoY
Bush told Cheney to discredit diplomat critical of Iraq policy
No instruction to out CIA agent, says president
Effect of climate change on oceans gaining attention Two decades ago, when Dr. Richard Feely at the Seattle laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported his concerns about atmospheric carbon dioxide significantly altering the chemistry of the oceans, his findings were largely ignored.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

The War in Afghanistan Is Only the Beginning Afghans know one day Americans and other foreigners will go home, just as did the Russians, British and Alexander’s Greeks.
To Be or Not To Be a State? There is, however, another way out for Hamas. It can call and raise Washington’s and Tel Aviv's bets. How? By voting to dissolve the Palestinian Authority. Ending the PA would dump the Palestinian territories and their inhabitants right back in Israel’s lap. Under international law, as the occupying power, Israel would be responsible for everything in the territories: security, human services, utilities and infrastructure, the economy, the whole megillah (oy!). Israel could try to restore the PA in cooperation with Fatah, but if Fatah joined Israel in doing so, it would destroy what legitimacy it has left. Hamas could meanwhile return to a 4GW war against Israel, unencumbered with the dubious assets of a state, and with lots more targets as Israel attempted to run the Palestinian Territories itself.
Historic India-China link to open China and India are due to open a historic trade route on Thursday that has been closed for 44 years.
Cheaper US housing overshadows world economy: Soros
Last year, he said, such activity in the U.S. real estate market provided a stimulus of around $450 billion to the economy, but the housing boom is slowing.

Quick Overview

  • U.S. Consumer confidence rose in the latest week, bolstered by moderating gasoline prices, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Wednesday.

  • U.S. Factory orders were up 0.7% in May, more than expected. Excluding transport, factory orders were up 1.2%.

  • YoY retail sales in the Euro zone increased 0.8% in May.

  • YoY Chile's economy grew 6.1 percent in May.

  • Canada confirmed it's sixth case of mad cow disease.
Trade Deal Looks More Like a Distant Dream

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Bank of Japan said to raise interest rate
The Bank of Japan will raise a key interest rate to 0.25 percent from zero next week, a news report said Tuesday, amid conflicting signals from government officials over the wisdom of such a move.
Not Enough Fish in the Sea
This shouldn’t surprise us. During the Palaeolithic, human beings ate roughly the same amount of omega-3 fatty acids as omega-6s(10). Today we eat 17 times as much omega-6 as omega-3. Omega-6s are found in vegetable oils, while most of the omega-3s we eat come from fish. ..
However … we probably do not have a sustainable supply of long chain omega 3 fats.”(14) Our brain food is disappearing.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Quick Overview

  • Institute of Supply Management's index of U.S. manufacturing dropped from 54.4 to 53.8 in June

  • Inflation worries took their toll on parts of the U.S. Midwest and south-central region. An index of June business conditions took its biggest one-month tumble in more than six years, according to a nine-state survey released by Creighton University on Monday.

  • The Commerce Department said that construction spending was at $1.21 billion in May, down 0.4% from April's rate.

  • Japans Tankan survey increased from +20 in May to +21 in June.
    The unemployment rate in the Euro zone improved from 8.0% to 7.9% in May. In the EU-25.

  • Manufacturing in the Euro zone increased from 57.0 to 57.7 in June, the highest score in six years.

  • Manufacturing for the U.K. increased from 53.5 to 55.1 in June, the highest in almost two years.

  • Retail sales in Australia were down 0.3% in May.

  • China has squeaked by Britain by the tiniest of margins to become the world's fourth-largest economy, according to the World Bank's latest calculations.

  • The USDA said there were 60.9 million hogs and pigs in inventory on June 1st, up 0.3% YoY.

  • The U.S. and Canada tentatively agreed to a seven-year trade agreement for softwood lumber.

  • The U.S. spring wheat crop is suffering from dry conditions in the Dakotas and northern Minnesota.

  • Long-range weather outlooks are forecasting hotter and drier conditions for the Midwest.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Bush's Assault on Freedom: What's To Stop Him?
Americans are going to have to decide which is the greater threat: terrorists, or the Republican Party's determination to shred American civil liberties and the separation of powers in the name of executive power and the "war on terror."
Did Bush commit war crimes?
But here's where the rubber really hits the road. Under federal criminal law, anyone who "commits a war crime … shall be fined … or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death." And a war crime is defined as "any conduct … which constitutes a violation of Common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva." In other words, with the Hamdan decision, U.S. officials found to be responsible for subjecting war on terror detainees to torture, cruel treatment or other "outrages upon personal dignity" could face prison or even the death penalty.

Quick Overview

  • U.S. personal incomes were up 0.4% in May and consumer spending was up 0.4%.

  • The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased from 79.1 to 84.9 in June, more than expected.

  • The National Association of Purchasing Managers' index of Chicago business activity dropped from 61.5 to 56.5 in June.

  • The unemployment rate in Japan improved from 4.1% to 4.0% in May, the lowest in eight years. YoY Japan's consumer prices were up 0.6% in May.

  • YoY GDP growth in the U.K. was revised from an increase of 2.2.% to 2.3% in the first quarter

  • Germany's retail sales were down 2.2% in May, but up 1.9% YoY.

  • The USDA estimated U.S. planted acres this spring:
    79.4 million acres of corn, down 3% from a year ago, but up 2% from the March estimate.
    74.9 million acres of soybeans, up 4% from a year ago, but down 3% from the March estimate.
    57.9 million acres of (all) wheat, up 1% from a year ago and up 1% from the March estimate.
    15.3 million acres of cotton, up 7% from a year ago and up 5% from the March estimate.

  • The USDA reported U.S. grains stocks as of June 1st:
    4.36 billion bushels of corn, up 1% from a year ago.
    990 million bushels of soybeans, up 42% from a year ago.
    568 million bushels of all wheat, up 5% from a year ago.