BUSH to CONGRESS: “HAVE THIS ON MY DESK”

TITLE: Bush Prods Congress To Act On Stalled Legislative Agenda

AUTHOR: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOURCE: http://www.nydailynews.com

DATE: 31 March 2008

BODY:

WASHINGTON- On his way out of the country, President Bush stopped long enough Monday to tell Congress what to do while he was away: pass legislation he wants on matters of trade, housing and terrorist surveillance.

[Ed. Comment: Uh-huh. "Have this on my desk by the time I get back. Thanks, Junior. CEO, USA" His job must be so much easier now that the will of the People is out of the way. Bravo!]

In a quick statement from the driveway along the South Lawn, Bush tried to frame a legislative agenda for lawmakers once again.

[he'll frame the lawmakers, too.]

Bush and first lady Laura Bush then flew by helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base, where they departed for Ukraine. The president is also visiting Romania, Croatia and Russia in a trip built around the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.

Addressing reporters, Bush said Congress should pass a free-trade deal with Colombia, a law to modernize the Federal Housing Administration, and an update to a law allowing eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.

[in short, he wants his free cocaine, a bailout for his buddies, and to circumvent Due Process of Law and the Constitution just for shits and giggles ...again!]

“These are all vital priorities,” Bush said. “I ask members of both parties to get these important pieces of legislation to my desk as soon as possible.”

["Yes, Master!"]

The intelligence law Bush wants would make it easier for the government to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States.

[i.e.: The Palmetto Patriot = suspected terrorists?]

He will accept only a version that gives legal protection to telecommunications companies that helped the government wiretap U.S. computer and phone lines after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks without clearance from a secret court. Some lawmakers object to give the companies that level of legal immunity.

[...so that he doesn't have to pardon them himself for their illegal behavior. He doesn't know how to write.]

“Our intelligence professionals are waiting on Congress to give them the tools they need to monitor terrorist communications,” Bush said.

[George Washington was a terrorist, too; in British eyes, anyway]

Bush said the housing law he wants would allow more struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages.

[his friends asked for some help with their real estate problems]

He said the trade pact with Colombia is an important way of helping a South American ally and businesses in the United States.

[and to get free cocaine on his desk every week.]

The president took no questions.

[SURPRISE!]

On his trip, Bush is promoting NATO expansion and trying to shore up ties with allies. But many world leaders have begun looking beyond him as his second White House term winds down.

Bush is beginning with a stop in Ukraine to tout that country’s democratic reforms.

[He wants to know what democracy is.]

The president then goes to Romania for his last summit with NATO leaders, where the alliance’s membership and the war in Afghanistan will be key topics.

[We've secretly replaced the Afghan government with rich Folger's crystals. Will they know the difference?]

Bush is also scheduled to visit Croatia and head to Russia for what will likely be his final meeting with Vladimir Putin as Russian president. Bush hopes to break a logjam between the two nations over a proposed U.S. missile defense system; Putin’s successor takes over in May.

[and if he can't un-jam his log he'll be very cross and tell his daddy]

The agenda is part of the busiest travel year in Bush’s presidency. He went to the Middle East in January and to Africa in February. After his current trip, Bush has five more major excursions on the books – from Europe to Asia, the Middle East to South America.

[why not? Might as well get some travel at taxpayers' expense while he still can]

Bush remains relevant to the end of his term as Commander In Chief. But some world leaders have begun to calculate how far they should commit to a president whose days are numbered and whose legacy had been tarnished by the war in Iraq. The 2008 U.S. presidential race is grabbing attention overseas.

[No shit. Europeans can't wait for Obama to be sworn in.]

At NATO, Bush is seeking to expand the alliance to include three Balkan countries – Albania, Croatia and Macedonia. He also wants Ukraine and Georgia to be on track for membership, but that idea faces stiff resistance from Putin, who sees it as a threat into Russia’s former sphere of influence.

[Don't worry, Junior, we'll get those commies someday! Oh wait...]

But Bush sees NATO expansion as a way to cement democratic gains in Europe. The United States and its NATO allies remain broadly united about the war in Afghanistan, but there has been trans-Atlantic bickering on how to proceed, too.

[Gangbang in Afghanistan! Woohoo! Free brown women for everyone!]

FORBES: Miami Tops America’s Shitlist

[Ed. Note: We at the Palmetto Patriot apologize for re-posting this incredibly mundane swill of real estate gargle, but we again find it interesting that someone has fudged a set of numbers that construes Miami, once again, as America's Top Sh**hole. Thanks, America!]

TITLE: RISKIEST U.S. HOUSING MARKETS

AUTHOR: Matt Woolsey (FORBES.com)

SOURCE: http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/17/risk-housing-homes-forbeslife-cx_mw_0717realestate.html

BODY:

Those looking to spin the real estate roulette wheel might want to steer clear of Miami. It ranks first on our list of the nation’s riskiest real estate markets. There, a high share of adjustable-rate mortgages, high vacancy rates and slumping prices still too elevated for the local populous means should long-term bond yields climb, interest rates jump or the housing crisis linger much longer, things could go from bad to worse. Affairs are not much better farther north–or west.

Following in Miami’s wake are Orlando, Sacramento and San Francisco. Our ranking of the country’s riskiest markets measures which of the 40 largest metros are most vulnerable to future shocks. We’ve done this by assessing which have the most strained lending conditions, and which markets are the most overvalued and likely to face downward price pressures. Many of the cities on our list–like San Francisco and San Diego–are traditional high fliers where speculators can still make a lot of money if they pick the right neighborhood or hit the price trough. Of course, they might also take a serious bath.

Others, like Chicago or Phoenix, are generally stable markets that are currently under significant strains. Finally, some, like Cincinnati or Kansas City, are precariously teetering and are not well equipped to handle further downturn.

Crunching The Numbers

A good place to start in assessing risk is the state of the local mortgage market. Take adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, in which borrowers, for a limited time, usually five or seven years, make interest-only or reduced-rate payments. The most obvious danger in this is that at the end of the five- or seven-year term, monthly payments increase to a rate the borrower is unable to sustain. Given Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s continuing worries about inflation, economists say there’s a good chance rates could go up in the next couple of years, meaning that the increased costs of lending will be passed along to ARM borrowers, and that can mean higher rates of defaults. What’s more, high ARM share generally means a market is unaffordable to its residents.

The metros with the highest shares of ARMs, according to the National Association of Realtors, are in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles, respectively. These three cities are also the most overpriced, according to our price-to-earnings measure. And these areas are three of the four least affordable to the local population, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo’s affordability index. If rates go up or lending tightens, fewer will be able to buy in, bringing the markets to a screeching halt. Another arbiter of risk? Cities with a high proportion of mortgages with loan-to-value ratios in excess of 90%. Loan-to-value (LTV) measures the size of the mortgage to a home’s overall value. In a standard home buy, the down payment is 10% of the overall value, meaning the LTV is 90%. When the loan-to-value ratio is above 90%, it means buyers have little equity in their homes. And homeowners with low equity are far more likely to default or walk away from a mortgage.

If the market teeters and lenders take a hit from defaults, it can depress prices overall, as is currently being seen with the subprime lending fallout. For that reason, Kansas City is particularly vulnerable. It has a 39% share of mortgages with LTV ratios above 90%. The median rate for cities on our list was 11%, according to the National Association of Realtors. We next mixed in a price-to-earnings ratio for each market. (Like the P/E of a stock, this value attempts to measure the price a homeowner would pay for one dollar of return.) Using data from the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, we took each market’s median home price and divided it by annual rents minus taxes and insurance for those properties.

The price-to-earnings ratio highlights two significant risks. It magnifies risk factors in overly expensive markets in which there is more money at stake. For example, a 5% drop in median home prices in San Francisco is possible; but the nominal equivalent, a 24% price drop in Dallas, is not something the market is likely to bear. Second, overvalued bubble markets are more likely to face downward price pressures in a slumping market as overvalued markets are, by definition, most likely to experience a correction. A final factor was vacancy rates. It’s not a complicated or glamorous measurement, but it’s difficult to find a better indicator of supply and demand. Orlando’s staggering 5.2% vacancy rate represents a significant risk factor for the city. Strong local economic indicators like job growth and immigration significantly mitigate that risk, but it is in a vulnerable position should there be an economic slowdown or a disruptive hurricane season.

Two larger cities that performed very well by this measure were Los Angeles and New York, which ranked fourth and eighth for lowest vacancy rate. While both cities had high ARM shares and high P/Es, their low vacancy rates bode well for those markets.

SABAN TURNS DOLPHINS INTO CHICKEN OF THE SEA

TITLE: NICK SABAN LEAVES DOLPHINS LOSER, WEASEL
AUTHOR: DAN LE BATARD (Miami Herald)
SOURCE: http://www.miamiherald.com
BODY:

MIAMI- The punctuation on the Nick Saban Error is greasy and greedy. You know what he was as Dolphins coach? A failure. A loser. A gasbag. And one of the worst investments Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga has ever made. He was less of a success than Dave Wannstedt and more of a traitor than Ricky Williams. There has been very little in franchise history that came with more expectations and fewer results than this hypocrite who at the end avoided the hard questions one last time.

Talk like a warrior. Behave like a weasel.Maybe Saban would be better off in college. Because, in the pros the last few days, he has looked like a complete and utter amateur.

He will be remembered in these parts as a quitter and a liar. He leaves the franchise in last place, with what used to be his good name somehow far lower than that. And for this he’ll get a $25 million raise and more job security in Alabama. Makes you wonder what USC’s Pete Carroll or Ohio State’s Jim Tressel are worth, doesn’t it?

Larry Coker, a decent man, gets fired for his one championship. Saban, a duplicitous one, gets the most lucrative job in college football. Saban could have fixed his reputation today if he had that mental toughness he is always sermonizing about. We have the meandering spiel memorized by now. About ”competitive character” and ”overcoming adversity” and blah, blah, blah. You preach it, Nick. But you don’t live it. Not when it’s easier to run away and hide.

Miami, 6-10 against an easy schedule, was swept this year by younger teams in its division — the Jets and Bills. The team isn’t better than when Saban arrived, just older. What little winning Saban has done has been with players left for him by Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt. What’s the best decision Saban has made in two years? Can you name one?

So it makes sense that he would lack hope. But when his players are losing, he asks them to be proud and fight and overcome, even though what they do hurts a hell of a lot more than what he does. But now, reputation in tatters, integrity stained, he runs away from this fight — to be a dictator to kids who question less and have less power to challenge him. Of course he’d go. It’s a good deal easier. And a new crowd eager for a savior can hear his hot-air speeches about being a gladiator.

Saban made Huizenga look like a public fool with all his condescending talk of integrity recently, reprimanding reporters at every turn while his agent secretly kept taking slimy calls from Alabama in the shadows. What a raging fraud Saban sounds like today, every bit as counterfeit as Miami’s Super Bowl expectations.

Oh, a man, even one under contract, is allowed to change his mind and listen to other offers, especially those that double his salary. But what makes Saban’s behavior so unctuous recently is that he had the audacity to question the questioners with super-sized arrogance even while lying all along to his players and his boss. Huizenga has given this man everything he has wanted — given him more than any NFL owner anywhere has given any other coach. He deserves better than this. He deserves better than Saban leaving him to answer the hard questions today.

Makes you wonder, too: Huizenga went after Ricky Williams and his money with cutthroat zeal, and Williams is still paying him back. But Saban just broke a contract, too. There are no outs in Saban’s contract to go back to the minor leagues.

Remember how mad you were when Williams retired? Well, he wasn’t cheating on you. He wasn’t grabbing for more money. His body hurt from a beating, and he wanted to rest. What Saban has done is a more traitorous act — the most traitorous act in the history of the franchise. He’s leaving simply because he couldn’t handle a hard job on the sidelines of a game in which he asks others to be violent. He gave up, in other words. And filing it under ”family” now as a diluter, in search of understanding, rings hollow because you can’t believe anything the man says about this situation. You think he’d be leaving if he were 3-13?

Saban, infomercial sermonizer, talked a lot about loyalty and integrity and toughness. But, in the end, these were not his guides. They were only the kinds of things he demanded of others.

PUBLIC ENEMY #1

TITLE:  Bush tops bin Laden, Saddam as villain of the year
AUTHOR:   The AUSTRALIAN
SOURCE:   http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20989414-2703,00.html
BODY:

WASHINGTON (AP)- It has been many months since George W. Bush topped the polls, but the US President has outflanked both Osama bin Laden and former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to seize the dubious honour of the ultimate villain of 2006.

If it’s any consolation for the beleaguered President, he also managed to take out the AP/AOL News Poll’s 2006 hero of the year, albeit by a much smaller margin.

Among entertainment celebrities, TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey edged out actor Michael J.Fox as the best celebrity role model, while pop singer Britney Spears was the clear choice over Paris Hilton for worst.

Asked to name the candidate that first came to mind for “biggest villain of the year”, Bush won by a landslide, with 25per cent, followed by bin Laden, the al-Qa’ida leader, in second place with 8 per cent.

Rounding out the top five villains were Saddam, who is awaiting execution, with 6 per cent; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 5 per cent, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, 2 per cent — from the three countries Bush once designated as the “Axis of Evil.”

In the poll, 13 per cent named Bush as their favourite, while 6per cent chose the US troops in Iraq. The other top choices were TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, US senator Barack Obama, a possible Democratic presidential contender, and Jesus Christ — each with 3 per cent.

On the question of celebrity role models, Spears’s bad behaviour claimed worst honours with 29 per cent. The 25-year-old pop singer and mother of two young sons recently filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, her husband of two years. She then followed with highly publicised nights out with party girls Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, including photographic evidence of Spears wearing no underpants, which raised questions about her fitness as a parent, not to mention her fashion sense. Spears apologised on her website, saying she probably went “a little too far” with her new-found freedom.

Paris Hilton was the second-worst celebrity, attracting 18 per cent of the vote. The 25-year-old party girl and hotel heiress was arrested for drunken driving in Los Angeles in September while on a late-night hamburger run. Mel Gibson, 50, was third-worst celebrity with 12 per cent, no doubt as a result of his anti-Semitic tirade at police in Malibu, California, during his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving. He later apologised and said he harboured no animosity towards Jews. Rounding out the worst celebrity role model category were the couch-hopping Tom Cruise, 9 per cent; former Seinfeld star Michael Richards, 6 per cent; Nicole Richie, 5 per cent; Federline, 4 per cent; Lohan, 3 per cent; and Angelina Jolie, 2 per cent.

In the best celebrity role model category, 29 per cent of adults chose talk-show host Winfrey. The philanthropist and entertainment mogul contributed $40million ($50.5million) towards the establishment of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease, finished second with 23 per cent. Actor George Clooney, who has been advocating for refugees in the war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan, finished third with 12per cent. Eight per cent chose Jolie and boyfriend Brad Pitt scored 2 per cent. Newlyweds Cruise and Katie Holmes tied at 2 per cent. Jolie and Cruise were the only celebrities to land on both the best and worst role model lists.

The telephone poll of 1004 adults was conducted December from 19-21 by Ipsos, an international polling firm.

MIAMI: CAPITAL of the THIRD WORLD

TITLE: GOP Rep. Calls Miami ‘Third World Country’
Gov. Jeb Bush Fires Back, Calling Colorado’s Tom Tancredo’s Comments ‘Disappointing’ And ‘Naïve’
AUTHOR: CBS NEWS
SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/politics/main2217944.shtml
BODY:

DENVER (CBS/AP)- A Colorado congressman who likened Miami to a “third world country” defended his comments in a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush, saying fewer city residents consider themselves Americans.

Bush had earlier responded to the remarks made by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., after the congressman criticized the city’s poverty and crime while attending an immigration conference in Palm Beach over the weekend.

Tancredo, a vocal supporter of the anti-illegal immigration movement in the U.S. House, made his initial comments to WorldNetDaily, a conservative online new site, his spokesman Carlos Espinosa said.

“Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you’re in the United States of America. You would certainly say you’re in a Third World country,” Tancredo said.

Bush, who plans to move to Miami after vacating the governor’s office, said in his letter, said Tancredo’s comments were “disappointing” and “naïve.”

“Miami is a wonderful city filled with diversity and heritage that we choose to celebrate, not insult,” Bush said. Late Tuesday night, Tancredo responded with a letter to the governor, defending his view.

“I certainly understand and appreciate your need and desire to create the illusion of Miami as a multiethnic ‘All American’ city,” Tancredo wrote. “I can also appreciate that Miami’s schools graduate many outstanding students and that the cultural and ethnic diversity of the city offers many advantages to its residents.

“However, it is neither naïve nor insulting to call attention to a real problem that cannot be easily dismissed through politically correct happy talk,” Tancredo wrote. Tancredo said a growing number of Miami residents don’t speak English, one of the few things that holds Americans together.

Bush said he was disheartened by the congressman’s “disparaging comments” and touted the city’s diversity as a reason Florida leads the nation in job growth and continues to have a bustling economy. He acknowledged crime problems in the city, but noted they have dropped every year since 1999.

“Perhaps your naive comments served as a good reminder for everyone to lessen the anger, frustration and emotion surrounding the issue of immigration,” Bush said in the letter. “Overheated rhetoric won’t solve this issue. We need a comprehensive solution that will require cooler heads to prevail.”

Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, also criticized Tancredo’s comments. Ros-Lehtinen also invited him to visit Miami.

“I hope you will take Cong. Ros-Lehtinen’s offer to come visit our community,” Bush said in a handwritten post script. A spokeswoman for Bush said the governor has a close connection with Miami’s Hispanic community.

“He’s disappointed,” Alia Faraj said. “He takes pride in the diversity in Florida and feels very strongly about Miami. It’s his home.”

WHALES found to be SMARTER than REPUBLICANS

SCIENCE

TITLE: HUMPBACK WHALES HAVE “HUMAN” BRAIN CELLS

AUTHOR: REUTERS UK

SOURCE: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKN2642608820061127

BODY:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Humpback whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

This might mean such whales are more intelligent than they have been given credit for, and suggests the basis for complex brains either evolved more than once, or has gone unused by most species of animals, the researchers said.

The finding may help explain some of the behaviors seen in whales, such as intricate communication skills, the formation of alliances, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage, the researchers report in The Anatomical Record.

Patrick Hof and Estel Van der Gucht of the Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York studied the brains of humpback whales and discovered a type of cell called a spindle neuron in the cortex, in areas comparable to where they are seen in humans and great apes.

Although the function of spindle neurons is not well understood, they may be involved in cognition — learning, remembering and recognizing the world around oneself. Spindle cells may be affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other debilitating brain disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

‘COMPLEX SOCIAL PATTERNS’

The researches found spindle neurons in the same location in toothed whales with the largest brains, which the researchers said suggests that they may be related to brain size. Toothed whales such as orcas are generally considered more intelligent than baleen whales such as humpbacks and blue whales, which filter water for their food.

The humpbacks also had structures that resembled “islands” in the cerebral cortex, also seen in some other mammals.

These islands may have evolved in order to promote fast and efficient communication between neurons, the researchers said.

Spindle neurons probably first appeared in the common ancestor of hominids, humans and great apes about 15 million years ago, the researchers said — they are not seen in lesser apes or monkeys.

In cetaceans they would have evolved earlier, possibly as early as 30 million years ago, the researchers said.

Either the spindle neurons were only kept in the animals with the largest brains or they evolved several times independently, the researchers said.

“In spite of the relative scarcity of information on many cetacean species, it is important to note in this context that sperm whales, killer whales, and certainly humpback whales, exhibit complex social patterns that included intricate communication skills, coalition-formation, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage,” the researchers wrote.

“It is thus likely that some of these abilities are related to comparable histologic complexity in brain organization in cetaceans and in hominids.”