Looking over his shoulder, but sadly not giving him a reach-around. After all this he could use one.

Anyway, interesting history of congressional investigations, and you've got a great point if you want to justify the 9/11 hearings. But the key difference between every one of the hearings you reference and what you're suggesting is that they all investigated abuses of power or potential deceptions. They weren't just attempts to second guess the CinC's choice of strategies, which is essentially what you're endorsing here.

That takes meddling in the role of the executive to a whole new level, and crosses a constitutional line I'm not sure we ought to violate.

Dave

No president of the US has shown the utter disregard and even contempt for the US constitution that has been shown by George W. Bush.

I am all for violating the line mentioned by Dave Nalle in this case--even to the point of providing a proctologist as a member of the investigating committee....

Realist..one could interpret..although hard to believe that this post is more of the Bush Hating Masturbation for fucking idiots on the far left...not that I would make such an attack or claim!

JOM

This isn't a case of meddling; this is a case of proven lies & manipulation by BushCo to create a war that didn't need to happen, and it should be investigated to the nth degree & the malefactors behind it - Bush & Cheney, along with whatever stooges did the actual conniving - should be tried for treason.

Nancy...gee this is turning into a circle jerk...do they allow public employees in your municipality to blog all day? What about the tax payers? Maybe we should hire some illegals of outsource your job to India...

JOM

PS Get back to work!

Nancy, most of the wars in the world don't NEED to happen. War is just seen as a simple - but bloody and expensive - solution to complex problems.

Face it, our politicians aren't so bright and they certainly tend towards intellectual laziness. That means they go to war when other methods might have served them better if they'd been able to figure out how to use them.

It's like Alexander and the Gordian Knot.

Dave

"War is just seen as a simple - but bloody and expensive - solution to complex problems."

Yes that was most of the problem: War (read: military action) was seen by Bush & Company as a simple solution, whereas the truth is that war, at least in this case, is anything but simple. Unfortunately, it does not appear that any lessons have been learned to change such an erroneous outlook.

Well Realist, the frustration with the administrations handling of our foreign policy seems to be boiling all over this country. The more we become aware of the true monetary cost of this foolish and unnecessary adventure, the more we realise we are being lead by people who's vision are not based in reality.

We have been had, and there is nothing we can do about it. We will have to live with, and pay for these mistakes for generations.

I don't agree with the opinions expressed in the article. War in Iraq is a necessary thing. War is a necessary thing on the whole. "this expensive and wasteful war that this nation can no longer" isn't correct statement. The US military budget is enough to start and win a new world war.

professays:

"War in Iraq is a necessary thing."

Events have proven this wrong. The premises for war, WMD, aluminum centrifuge tubes, OBL alliances, etc., have all been refuted.

"War is a necessary thing on the whole."

Not at all, as USA 20th century history reveals, wherein empire-building and foreign domination were satisfactorily accomplished through economic and business operations, and mostly futile with military operations except as required defensively.

""this expensive and wasteful war that this nation can no longer" isn't correct statement. The US military budget is enough to start and win a new world war."

Start, yes. Win, no. As events in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown.

and on the other hand of this Administration's poor stewardship ...

Stock Market loses year's gains in a day due to Chinese rumbles.

falls under the "don't believe the hype" category about current economic circumstances

will it lead to the speculated recession as per former Fed chief Alan Greenspan? (quoted and sourced in the linked article)

don't know...but it does clearly demonstrate just how much quicksand formed the foundations of thinking that allowing the Chinese economy, and their buying of our dollars to finance our own deficit spending...as well as the huge trade imbalance between us... can fuck with us from across the World

was that too much gasoline on the fire?

the Taqo of D'oh.

hate it when even after i preview, i still misspell something, especially a tagline...

"Tao of D'oh"...not "Taqo"

for Fun.

Events have proven this wrong. The premises for war, WMD, aluminum centrifuge tubes, OBL alliances, etc., have all been refuted.

Except, of course, that none of those things were the real reason for going to war, and those real reasons still exist.

Dave

and on the other hand of this Administration's poor stewardship ...

Stock Market loses year's gains in a day due to Chinese rumbles.

Indeed, whatever the fuck your name is this week, our administration has done a terrible job of running China. Good thing they're actually running the US.

This stock market adjustment may seem scary, but the problem is far worse in the bloated and volatile Chinese market, which dropped almsot 3 times as much as the Dow did today.

So contrary to what you imply, the relative drops in the two markets suggests that we're pleasantly insulated from the problems the Chinese are having.

Dave

not trying to imply anything, really...far too early to tell, and i do indeed think it is most likely a correction, just how severe or the long term effects due to many of the factors in the cited article is yet to be determined

as for "insulation", one of the possibilities is the Chinese deciding to sell off some of their dollar holdings, flooding currency markets...my concern, and my only real implication previous...since much of their holdings of our currency are due to current Administration policies..

easy enough for even you to comprehend... the policies lead to much of the circumstantial volatility, and advocates of globalization should be very well Aware concerning the tangled web of interdependence and their ramification

and Nalle, i'm gonna try and just deal with what is said, not by whom...but still stand firmly for self defense

fair enough?

zing,

For the record, my reference to "weak" was aimed at Gore, not you.

Didn't mean for it to be personal.

as for "insulation", one of the possibilities is the Chinese deciding to sell off some of their dollar holdings, flooding currency markets...my concern, and my only real implication previous...since much of their holdings of our currency are due to current Administration policies..

I'm actually kind of interested to see this scenario play out. I'd like to see the ridiculous Dobbsian theory that the Chinese owning US securities means anything at all tested and put to rest once and for all.

Dave

really?

the possible implications of flooding financial markets bugs the shit out of me..hopefully that nightmare scenario doesn't play out at all...and can be stopped short...

we will know much more as the next few market sessions progress

hopefully it doesn't devolve into lawyers, guns and money.

Well, I've thought the whole process through several times. The way I see it the worst case scenario would be for China to dump a whole bunch of US government notes on the international market at a discount. This would inevitably hurt China more than it hurts us and it would be a great break for some other investors, but the question is whether it would actually do any harm to the US. Clearly it couldn't do any direct harm, because they can't force us to buy them back. I'd think that the worst it could do was make it hard to float other bonds and notes on the market in the future - a problem which could easily be counterracted by not generating any more unnecessary debt.

Dave

funny...my concern is devaluing the dollar market, and thus the actual working buy power of the dollar, compounded by the induced inflation spiral cycle inherent in such a flood fucking with the whole supply/demand thingamabobs and whatchamacallits

big Money goes around the world...

[grins sheepishly...]

Just realized I posted my #16 on the wrong thread.

It's been that kind of a day.

Especially on Wall Street...

Re #19 by Dave Nalle;

Vox Populi has seen figures similar to the ones Dave quotes.

China's position is not as good as OPEC's. If OPEC chooses to denominate oil in Euros instead of dollars then the USA would be severely effected. Hmmmm, so would that increase China's propensity to invade the ME?

Here's a pretty good analysis of what happened on the Shanghai Exchange yesterday.

An interesting excerpt:

The Shanghai stock market blew up today, dropping almost 9%. That was the biggest drop in the Shanghai index in a decade and wiped out more than $100 billion in stock market capitalization.

No one should be surprised. And no one should think this has anything to do with a slowdown in China's economy.

The Shanghai market was a stock speculator's wildest dream come true, with that speculator's worst nightmare waiting in the wings. The game was fixed, and everybody knew it. While it lasted, the profits were too good to pass up -- the Shanghai index was up 170% since mid-2005. Every investor hoped to be first out the door when the day of reckoning came -- exactly the kind of rush to the exits that took place today.
A tale of 2 markets
Notice I say the Shanghai market and not the Chinese stock market. Not all of China's stock markets panicked. On the same day that the Shanghai Composite Index fell 9%, Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Stock Index lost just 1.8%.

This isn't a one-time differential, either. On Jan. 12, the Shanghai index fell almost 4% while the Hang Seng actually climbed by more than 1%.

I've been reading the author, Jim Jubak's, analyses and financial reports for years; he knows his stuff, and is usually right on the money(heh).

Hmmmm, so would that increase China's propensity to invade the ME?

I figure once the US gets worn out softening the region up the Chinese ought to be in there like Hoy Sin sauce on rice.

Dave

Slightly bitter but understanding. The larger picture is not addressed, which is a pity. To understand the changing world politics and business, two great books worth read: 1. China's global reach; 2. China and the new world order; both books reveal the deeper things behind the current global politics and business.