[On Saturday, Chavez] urged Venezuelans to see vote as a referendum on him.”It’s black and white — a vote against the reform is a vote against Chavez,” he said in a state television interview.

Reading leftie listservs and blogs today shows some sense of unreality among Chavistas, some of whom are determined to make this into a victory… somehow. Or that will be a victory once Chavez regroups, yes, that’s it, this defeat was a victory because it means he will regroup and then win.

Well, no. Chavez won re-election last December by 20%. He lost Sunday’s election by 1.5%. Thus, his support has dropped drastically, no matter what kind of happy face his supporters might wish to put on it.

His own loose cannon behavior in the final days before the referendum may have done him in. This would include repeatedly interrupting a speech by the Spanish foreign minister, saying advisers to the Columbian president want war, and that the US better not question the vote if he won else he’d cut off oil supplies - these might not have been well-received by moderates. Comments like these are aimed at his left flank - but they already supported him. However, the voter in the middle might well have thought, if he’s getting like this now, what will be be like in 20 years if he keeps getting re-elected? So they voted no.

5 Comments »

White House says pressure on Iran must continue

This despite the National Intelligence report that says Iran halted their nuclear arms program in 2003 and that it has not resumed it.

No Comments »

Bush Sr. installs wind turbine at Kennebunkport home.

No Comments »

We may be seeing a textbook example of how not to run a company, and how, through arrogance and stupidity, a once-promising company cratered.

NYT: Facebook’s Zuckerberg lied to us; Coke: ditto

Facebook Beacon is unfixable

From influential tech blogger Robert Scoble

Facebook has the most controlling PR department outside of Apple and it sure is in the middle of a PR crisis right now.

I feel ambivalent about the troubles Facebook is having right now. Personally I’m having lots of trouble with Facebook but Facebook doesn’t care about people who have more than 5,000 friends unless they can figure out a way to monetize us. Everytime I look at Facebook I am reminded of how little Facebook cares about me. So, I care less and less about Facebook every day.

The geek reaction to Facebook’s Orwellian program Beacon which tracks what you do across any participating site you visit and reports it publicly on Facebook with no ability to opt-out has been hugely negative. This was made worse by them lying about it. Facebook has just a few days to make a real and convincing about-face or business schools in the future will  use them as a case study of what not to do.

Me, I’m like Scoble. Since this story broke, I’ve virtually stopped using Facebook. Doubtless many others have too.

No Comments »

The feds are proposing that mortgage brokers freeze rates on adjustable mortgages that are about to reset. Sounds like a politically popular idea, but will it work? And who benefits?

The banks may lower some rates or prevent ARM rates to increase as much as they would normally do, but they will try to put the difference into the principal sum owned, or have the taxpayer pay for it.

In other words, this would primarily be an investment bank bailout, as they bought and sold trillions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities, more than a few of which now are near worthless.

Also, the mortgage companies may not even own the mortgages, which were sliced and diced, packaged into bonds, then sold. Only the owner of the mortgage can ok freezing the rates.

These [owners] are not the criminals that made the deals. These are pension fund and entities like the Florida Local Government Investment Pool, school districts and the like, which are in deep trouble. Should and can they be made to give up their trust money to save house speculators?

It’s not just Florida who invested in SIVs.

Among the places caught up in the SIV and subprime snarls are Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Montana and King County, Washington. Public funds hold $1 billion of defaulted asset- backed commercial paper, including $273.5 million from SIVs.

Montana entrusted $465 million, or 19 percent of its $2.5 billion investment pool, to SIVs.

These SIVs were investment grade rated when the funds bought them because, in a truly sickening move, the regs were changed a while back so that a debt security received the rating of the company that insured it. If a bond insurer is AAA rated, then everything it insures is too. What a cozy arrangement for those selling garbage debt.

But the reverse is also true, and that portends serious trouble. If an insurer loses its AAA rating, then everything it insures does too. This would led to a paroxysm of selling because, among other things, pension funds are not allowed to hold debt rated as less than investment quality. They would be forced to sell. If they can, that is. Much of this toxic junk has no bid, thus with no buyers at any price.

5 Comments »

Asks musician / horror writer Mick Farren about the Saudi gang-rape victim being sentenced to being whipped and the Sudan teacher being jailed and getting death threats for allowing a teddy bear to be named Muhammed.

“This global religious fundamentalism thing they’ve all got going on…maybe a bridge too far?”

I can only shake my head and agree as we attempt rapport with these horrible 12th century maniacs.

To make things worse, such religious fanaticism is deliberately stoked and encouraged by their respective governments for political gain, control, and to keep the populace from thinking about other things. Not that they are the only governments to do this or that zealot religious fanatics don’t exist elsewhere, but grotesqueries like this need to be challenged wherever they happen.

Update: Sudan has pardoned the teacher, so at least in one country, calmer heads prevailed.

1 Comment »