The FL butterfly ballot that caused us so much grief in 2000.

-janelane

This is the photo-essay that Powell mentioned in his endorsement message.

Look at it.

-janelane

Service

The credit crisis caused Athens-Clarke County, Ga., to delay a $221 million bond issue planned for the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. The county has been planning for 10 years to upgrade three sewage treatment plants built more than 40 years ago when the population was much smaller.

To put that in perspective, Atlanta-Fulton County performs major capacity expansions and equipment upgrades on a 5-year cycle (or smaller). They do minor upgrades to outdated/disfunctional equipment constantly. And, they plan all upgrades on population estimates at least 10 years in the future.

I'm working on a small upgrade for a wastewater plant in the Atlanta area which was built 30 years ago and has also had no major upgrades since. The electrical system is so outdated that it has caught fire in two separate locations. There are no record drawings (which reconcile differences between the design drawings and what the contractor actually installed), so before any upgrade you have to reverse engineer everything AND put it into a computer-aided design program. Not to mention that none of the existing structures were designed to be expanded, so you'll have to get really creative in your preliminary engineering before the County can commit to any upgrades. To start design work on one of these facilities is therefore in the millions of dollars, much less the full design, materials and equipment, and construction costs of the finished product.

In short, this is bad for Athens, all municipalities, and all white-collar jobs tied to their revenue stream, e.g. mine and a host of others. Let's hope Congress gets off their asses SOON.

-janelane, engineer especial

Under Strain, Cities Are Cutting Back Projects - NYTimes.com

The company's main product, Enzyte, which promises sexual enhancement, has ads featuring ''Smiling Bob,'' a happy man with an exaggerated smile.

Holy crap! I just saw this ad yesterday! Wait...you mean "natural male enhancement" is just a pseudonym for fraud? Inconceivable!

-janelane

Ohio company owner gets 25 years in fraud case - NYTimes.com

Surveillance efforts will not cease when the law lapses. Administration intelligence officials said agencies would be able to continue eavesdropping on targets that have already been approved for a year after the initial authorization. But they said any new targets would have to go through the more burdensome standards in place before last August, which would require that they establish probable cause that an international target is connected to a terrorist group.

Ah, the good ole days when you had to show probable cause before wiretapping. I for one don't feel any less safe that this provision has expired, and in fact feel *in*spired to donate to my local ACLU.

-janelane

House Leaves Surveillance Law to Expire - New York Times

Which comes closest to your feelings about the Bush administration?:

New Hampshire Democratic primary voters

Enthusiastic – 2 percent
Satisfied, but not enthusiastic – 4 percent
Dissatisfied, but not angry – 28 percent
Angry – 65 percent

Count me among them.

-janelane

CNN: Early exit polls: Dems' feelings toward Bush admin.

The agreement contains numerous limitations that would exclude many — if not most — subprime borrowers. It would apply to loans taken out between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 30, 2007, and scheduled to rise in 2008 and 2009. It would exclude those who are delinquent on their payments — about 22 percent of all subprime borrowers, according to First American LoanPerformance, an industry research firm.

Among those sure to be disappointed are borrowers whose introductory rates expire before Jan. 1. About $57 billion in subprime loans were scheduled to be reset at higher rates in the final three months of this year, according to estimates by First American LoanPerformance.

Mortgage companies could also exclude borrowers who they conclude are making enough money to afford higher monthly payments. Barclays Capital — extrapolating from a similar program recently unveiled in California — estimates that only about 12 percent of all subprime borrowers, or 240,000 homeowners, would get relief.

I guess this is an issue where I get pulled back from the left towards the middle. I just can't see a reason to bail out people from these bad loans for much longer than the President is advertising. The Dem Candidates are talking in terms of 7-year bail outs and funds to help people pay mortgages. I'm all for social services, but that's over the line. Go after the aggressive lenders, shut down the subprime lending pipeline, and put the people in homes they can actually afford sooner rather than later. The choice isn't between the house they're in now and the street...just a cheaper house.

-janelane, objectively

Bush Announces Mortgage Agreement - New York Times

As of June 30, almost one in four subprime loans that Countrywide services was delinquent, up from 15 percent in the same period last year, according to company filings. Almost 10 percent were delinquent by 90 days or more, compared with last year’s rate of 5.35 percent.

Whoa. Qualitative and quantitative look at the mortgage industry and Countrywide's personal contribution.

I wonder how many of Atlanta's foreclosure woes are due to murky lending practices and not just ignorant borrowing.

-janelane

Inside the Countrywide Lending Spree - New York Times

A guy from Thailand was in my microeconomics class this morning and told me the real story behind all this coup stuff. Apparently, the PM was a satelite communications mogul who bought them from the gov't and didn't pay any taxes on them. He's the 4th richest person in Thailand, and his approval rating in the city is only about 20%. In the country its much higher, however that's more than likely because he bribes the peasants to vote for him. His main goal in life? To be the 1st richest person in Thailand.

I doubted my classmate until he concluded that his mom lives over there and says there hasn't been an ounce of rioting. Of course there's no rioting when it's what the people want.

Fuck our call to "return to democracy"...these guys seem to be making their own stew just fine.

-janelane, please someone glue Bush's mouth shut

Thailand's king gives blessing to coup

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether the Bush administration must regulate carbon dioxide to combat global warming, setting up what could be one of the court's most important decisions on the environment.

The decision means the court will address whether the administration's decision to rely on voluntary measures to combat climate change are legal under federal clean air laws.

"This is the whole ball of wax. This will determine whether the Environmental Protection Agency is to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and whether EPA can regulate carbon dioxide from power plants," said David Bookbinder, an attorney for the Sierra Club.

Bookbinder said if the court upholds the administration's argument it also could jeopardize plans by California and 10 other states, including most of the Northeast, to require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.

There was no immediate comment from either the EPA or White House on the court's action.

"Fundamentally, we don't think carbon dioxide is a pollutant, and so we don't think these attempts are a good idea," said John Felmy, chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group representing oil and gas producers.

If the Supreme Court agrees with the plantiffs, I will simultaneously have a stroke and heart attack. Bush has two stooges on the Court -- how can we possibly expect them to rule against him? Moreover, who in their right mind would expect him to rule against the oil and gas lobbyists? This is a simple mathematical identity with environmentalists (and anyone with a brain) on the losing side.

-janelane, CO2 pessimist

CNN.com - Supreme Court takes on global warming - Jun 26, 2006