TO OUR READERS:  We were about 40 minutes late this morning because of a technical issue.  Some of you, especially on the West Coast, know that we were offline for hours last night.  This was caused by the failure of the auto-renewal system at our domain name (www.urgentagenda.com) registration service.  A discussion will be held with them, with possible military consequences.  We regret any inconvenience. 

MONDAY,  DECEMBER 8,  2008

TV PROGRAMMING NOTE - AT 8:07 p.m. ET:  From AP:  NEW YORK (AP) - A terrible fall season at NBC is forcing the network to consider scaling back the number of hours it airs programming, Chief Executive Jeff Zucker told an investor conference Monday.  While NBC will continue to fund the creation of pilots, Zucker told analysts at a media investor conference sponsored by UBS that NBC is considering cutting the number of hours or perhaps even the number of nights it provides programming.

COMMENT:  Maybe if they'd occasionally try to appeal to adults, this wouldn't be happening.

ANGRY LEFTISTS

Posted at 7:58 p.m ET

Angry leftists?  Yes, I know.  As Mark Twain said, "I repeat myself." 

And now the anger is growing...at Barack Obama.  It seems the political left is disappointed that he isn't behaving like a trained seal.  He isn't following the line.  Both The The New York Times and the Politico have pieces today on how crushed the wine and Brie crowd is by the performance of the president elect thus far.  They were expecting, maybe, Lenin?

One problem with pieces like this is that they refer to these battalions as liberals, or, sometimes, progressives.  But terms like that have lost their meaning.  The typical "liberal" of today is far to the left of where typical liberals were in the Jack Kennedy days.  As far as "progressive" is concerned, when you see Katrina vanden Heuvel referred to that way, you know the word has disappeared from any respectable dictionary.  The Politico:

Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices...

...“He has confirmed what our suspicions were by surrounding himself with a centrist to right cabinet. But we do hope that before it's all over we can get at least one authentic progressive appointment,” said Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America.

Whoops.  There's the "P" word.  I'd love to know if this crowd thinks we should ever buy any tanks.

The central premise of the left’s criticism is direct – don’t bite the hand that feeds, Mr. President-elect. The Internet that helped him so much during the election is lighting up with irritation and critiques.

At least The Politico refers to "the left."  That's progress.  As to the criticism, when will the left understand that it never elected Obama?  Obama was elected because he appealed, honestly or not, to the broad middle, which is where elections are won.  Senator McCain got 46 percent of the vote.  Without the middle, Obama would have been toast. 

“Why isn’t there a single member of Obama’s cabinet who will be advising him from the left?” asked Chris Bowers on his site, OpenLeft .com. Kevin Drum, writing on the Web site of the liberal magazine Mother Jones, echoed that sentiment: “I mean, that is why most of us voted for him, right?”

Yeah, man, hey, you know.  Well, let's see, Obama has Tom Daschle in his cabinet, and that well-known right winger, Hillary Clinton.  His attorney general designate, Eric Holder, has not been known to read neo-con manuals by candlelight.  In fact, Obama will get advice from the left, but it may not be the far, Stalin-was-misunderstood left.  There's the rub.

In an opinion article for The Washington Post on Sunday, David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, wrote that “progressives are — depending on whom you ask — disappointed, irritated or fit to be tied.” But he added that “there’s no rebellion yet at hand” and “I’m not yet reaching for a pitchfork” because the left still is hoping that Mr. Obama will hijack the establishment to advance liberal causes.

As FDR liked to say, I love it, I love it, I love it.  Don't you just love phrases like "hijack the establishment"?  Welcome back to the sixties.

“We assume that there will be a philosophical balance when we’re all through with this,” said Representative Lynn Woolsey of California.

Wooly Woolsey, as she's sometimes called, is one of the doctrinaire "progressives" of the California delegation, and we hope she's wrong.

By the way, the New York Times piece on the same subject is here.

December 8, 2008.      Permalink          

DOW WOW - AT 4:13 P.M. ET - The Dow closed up about 299. 

WILL AUTO GUYS GET THE CASH? - AT 4:05 P.M. ET:   From The Washington Post:  The White House said it was "very likely" to reach agreement today with congressional Democrats on a package of emergency assistance for the Big Three Detroit automakers, as lawmakers continued work on a plan to extend $15 billion in emergency loans in return for close federal oversight of the industry.

COMMENT:  Caution.  This does not guarantee congressional passage.  Also, the story notes that the public, which has been polled, is still against a bailout of Detroit, a fact that might well influence members of Congress.

BULLETIN AT 3:50 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:  The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Monday, as the owner of The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs baseball team struggled to cope with rising debt and falling ad revenue.

COMMENT:  This may be the first of many in the newspaper business.  There are many factors at work here, but the failure of some news organizations to respond to public dissatisfaction with their product is key.  You can't sell a "vitally important" product if people no longer feel it's vitally important.

GM GOES RELIGIOUS

Posted at 1:06 p.m. ET

Well, I guess it's never too late for confession, or even redemption.  But GM's new print ad can either lead to Detroit finding the True Way, or it can give divinity a bad name.  Consider:

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp on Monday unveiled an unusually frank advertisement acknowledging it had "disappointed" and sometimes even "betrayed" American consumers as it lobbies to clinch the federal aid it needs to stay afloat into next month.

Might have felt a bit more sincere had they done this when they didn't have their hand in our pocket.

"While we're still the U.S. sales leader, we acknowledge we have disappointed you," the ad said. "At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs became lackluster."

Say it, Brother General, say it!

"We have proliferated our brands and dealer network to the point where we lost adequate focus on the core U.S. market," the ad said. "We also biased our product mix toward pick-up trucks and SUVs."

Sinners!  Sinners!

"Despite moving quickly to reduce our planned spending by over $20 billion, GM finds itself precariously and frighteningly close to running out of cash," the ad says.

Punishment!  Deserved punishment!

GM spokesman Greg Martin said the ad was an attempt by the automaker to present "a pledge directly to the public."

"We believe we need to deliver this commitment unfiltered since quite a bit of media commentary has not kept pace with our actual progress to transform the company," Martin said.

We'll check back in two years, guys.  In the meantime, tell us more of the things you've done.  It's good for the soul.

December 8, 2008.      Permalink          

BUMPING 9000 - AT 11:09 A.M. ET:  The Dow is up 328, at 8963.  Getting close to 9000.  I guess the wreckage of the newspaper industry, as reported below and yesterday, doesn't interest investors.

FOREGONE CONCLUSION - AT 10:44 A.M. ET:  From AP:  WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.

COMMENT:  Obama could have been born on Mars, and the Court would have decided the same way.  These issues are settled elsewhere.  The Court is not about to reverse a presidential election.

AND ANOTHER ONE - AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  From the International Herald-Tribune:  The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.

COMMENT:  This is the third story we've run in two days about a major newspaper company in trouble, and this company, of course, is the most famous of them all.  The Times desperately needs a change of management, but it's controlled by one family, and royal families don't normally give up the throne.

STOCKS RALLY - AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  The Dow is up 252 at the opening, apparently happy about President-elect Obama's endorsement of more government aid for business.  Give some of these "investors" a little socialism and they start to smile.

SEE THE USA IN YOUR...WHAT?

Posted at 9:08 a.m. ET

Did you ever think you'd see the day when Washington would control the auto industry, at one time the corporate symbol of America?  It seems to be coming, as The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats were drafting legislation Sunday for tight government control of the crippled American auto industry, including the possible creation of an oversight board made up of five cabinet secretaries and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and led by an independent chairman or “car czar.”

Cabinet secretaries?  Does that mean Hillary?  Hillary will design the new Mustang?

The final legislation is also expected to impose stringent taxpayer protections, including stock warrants that would give the government an equity stake in the three companies, new limits on executive pay and a ban on stock dividends while the loans are outstanding.

The executive pay bit will prove very popular with the public.  Even firm believers in free enterprise - and that's us - have trouble with paying a guy ten million dollars a year to fail.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the chairman of the banking committee that is drafting the legislation, called for the dismissal or resignation of Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of G.M., which is the most imperiled automaker.

“I think you’ve got to consider new leadership,” Mr. Dodd said Sunday in an interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “If you’re going to really restructure this, you’ve got to bring in a new team to do this, in my view.”

Maybe they can bring in the guys who ran Dodd's presidential campaign.  Remember?

Congressional Democrats said that if any of the companies failed to meet government requirements by the end of March, the emergency loans could be called in for immediate repayment.

At the news conference in Chicago, Mr. Obama affirmed his position that it would be unacceptable to allow the auto industry to collapse. But using somewhat tougher language than he had before, he said it made “no sense for us to shovel more money into the problem” if the companies are unwilling to reorganize.

Okay, conservatives, how about demanding that Mr. Obama apply the same standards to federally supported school systems?  (Did you just see Democrats clear the room?)

There is great skepticism about the auto bailout, especially among Republicans, and the votes to pass are not necessarily there.

Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the banking committee, on “Fox News Sunday” urged his Republican colleagues to filibuster a bailout bill. “I think this is a bridge loan to nowhere,” he said.

As lawmakers grappled with ways to aid the auto industry, Mr. Obama cautioned on “Meet the Press” that it was critical to think about both short- and long-term solutions to the nation’s economic woes. “Things are going to get worse before they get better,” Mr. Obama said.

That's right.  And remember that government can make them worse.

December 8, 2008.      Permalink          

PROGRESS (WE HOPE) IN PAKISTAN - AT 8:08 A.M. ET:  From The Washington Post:   ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Security forces overran a militant camp on the outskirts of Pakistani Kashmir's main city and seized an alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, two officials said Monday.  Backed by a helicopter, the troops grabbed Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi among at least 12 people taken Sunday in the raid on the riverbank camp run by the banned group Laskhar-e-Taiba in Pakistani Kashmir, the officials said. There was a brief gunfight in the camp near Muzaffarabad before the militants were subdued, the officials said.

COMMENT:  Always good news when Pakistan takes action.  We'll ask Renee Nielsen for her view of this.

ANOTHER PAPER IN TROUBLE - AT 8:01 A.M. ET:  From The New York Times:  The Tribune Company, the newspaper chain that owns The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times, is trying to negotiate new terms with its creditors and has hired advisers for a possible bankruptcy filing, according to people briefed on the matter.

COMMENT:  This comes shortly after the story broke that the Miami Herald may be put up for sale.  No matter what we think of the mainstream media, these are serious developments.  Remember that a newspaper can be bought by elements, including foreign elements, that do not have the public interest at heart. 

SUNDAY,  DECEMBER 7,  2008

RENEE

Posted at 6:25 p.m. ET

The investigation into what happened in Mumbai seems increasingly confused, and there remains the possibility of a flareup between India and Pakistan.    Renee Nielsen has filed a new report directly from Mumbai.  Incredibly, as Renee tells us, a hoax phone call almost created a catastrophe:

It's been a few days of back and forth blame in the newspapers, but today brings some interesting information:

-  Pakistan has promised to take action against LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), and to arrest at least three Pakistanis who have been linked to the multiple attacks in Mumbai. This is being reported off a story from the Washington Post from Saturday.

-  A youth from Kolkatta (Calcutta) and a J&K (Jammu & Kashmir) policeman have been arrested in Delhi for fraud and criminal conspiracy.  The two allegedly bought 22 SIM (phone) cards which were used by the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks.  They have been accused of buying them from different shops after "faking the documents of a dead man."  The Times of India reports that most of the SIM cards during the attack were bought in Bengal and police are looking for others who bought three from Kolkata and another 10 from Barasat.

-  A hoax call was made to Pakistani President Asif Zardari by a person who claimed to be Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee (the man with whom Condoleeza Rice held the news conference in Delhi last week).  Security measures were not taken and the call got through to Zardari. The Dawn internet publication reports the hoax caller:

...while ignoring the conciliatory language of the president, directly threatened to take military action if Islamabad failed to immediately act against the supposed perpetrators of the Mumbai killings.

As the telephone call ended many in the Presidency were convinced that the Indians had started beating the war drums. Within no time intense diplomatic and security activity started in Islamabad. Signals were sent to everyone who mattered about how the rapidly deteriorating situation may spiral out of control. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was advised to immediately return to the capital from Lahore, and a special plane (PAF chief's) was sent to Delhi to bring back the visiting Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi early in the morning on Nov 29 even when he was already booked to return by a scheduled PIA flight the same evening.

It was against this backdrop that some top Pakistani security officials briefed a few media persons on Saturday afternoon about a "threatening phone call" by the Indian external affairs minister to "someone" at the top in Islamabad. They also talked of Delhi's decision to put its air force in a state of "high alert", and described the following 24 to 48 hours as extremely critical. One of the top security officials even announced the possibility of shifting tens of thousands of troops from its western border with Afghanistan to its eastern frontier with India.

Sources said that during this period the Pakistan air force was at the highest alert. Among the citizens of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, who may have noticed fighter jets screaming overhead on Saturday morning, none would have known that the warplanes were mounting patrols with live ammunition. One senior official refused to call it a panic decision. "War may not have been imminent, but it was not possible to take any chances," he told Dawn.

Intense diplomatic efforts that started late on Friday went on throughout the following day. During this period phone calls were made from Islamabad to some of the top officials and diplomats in Washington, including Condoleezza Rice, and the US Secretary of State called Mr Mukherjee and others in India in a night-long effort to understand what might have gone wrong, and to persuade the two sides to bring down the temperature.

During this time, it was also revealed, an attempt was also made by the mysterious caller, claiming to be the Indian external affairs minister, to speak to the US Secretary of State, but due to specific checks laid down by the Americans, the call couldn't get through to Dr Rice.

These sources said that when Condoleezza Rice contacted Mr Mukherjee in the middle of the night to inquire about the reasons for hurling such threats at Pakistan he reportedly denied having any such call.

- Mumbai police are seeking custody of a man being held by the authorities in the UP (Indian state of Uttar Pradesh) who is a member of the LeT named Haheem Ansari.  He is originally from the Goregaon area in Mumbai and was caught in February with five other accused operatives for "allegedly attacking a CRPF camp in Rampur, UP, on Jan 1."  

According to the Times of India, "Fahim had told police that he'd done a 'recce' (reconnaissance mission) of 12 places in the city including the Taj hotel, the Oberoi, the police commissioner's office, the Maharastra state police HQ, and the Bombay Stock Exchange."  He also stated at that time to have been in touch with a LeT commander named Muzammil and gave his phone number to the ATS (anti-terrorist squad).  This number was found in the satellite phone of Abu Ismail, who was shot near Chowpatty on the first night of the Mumbai attacks.  The police are now "seeking to establish if Ansari knew about the 10 terrorists who created terror for almost three days. Several phone calls were made and received from a satellite phone to Muzammil's number."

Thank you again, Renee.

December 7, 2008.       Permalink          

SMART MOVE - AT 5:33 P.M. ET:  President-elect Barack Obama deflected a question about whether Caroline Kennedy should take Senator Hillary Clinton’s place representing New York in the Senate when Mrs. Clinton steps down to become secretary of state.  Tom Brokaw, interviewing Mr. Obama on “Meet the Press,” noted there was considerable “buzz” in New York about Ms. Kennedy, who called Gov. David Paterson last week and mentioned the job (although the governor has said she did not expressly say she wanted it).

COMMENT:  It's smart of Obama to stay out of this.  The appointment of Caroline Kennedy, whose views on just about everything are unknown, would not go down well with many people.  The name "Kennedy" does not entitle anyone to an automatic seat in the U.S. Senate.

ORIGIN OF A PHRASE - AT 5:12 P.M. ET:  On this Pearl Harbor Day, we recall that President Roosevelt referred to December 7th as "a date which will live in infamy."  Many have wondered whether the phrase originated with him, or was borrowed.  Reader Adrian Murray refers us to this quote, from the book, "Overthrow," by Stephen Kinzer.  The passage refers to the fact that the ruling monarch of Hawaii turned Pearl Harbor over to the Americans in 1887.  His sister, who later became queen, "wrote in her diary that it was 'a day of infamy in Hawaiian history.'"

Hmm.

FIGHTING BACK - AT 11:01 A.M. ET:  From AP:  NEW ORLEANS – In a year when national Republican fortunes took a turn for the worse, Louisiana delivered the GOP two seats in Congress in elections delayed by Hurricane Gustav.

Indicted Democratic U.S. Rep. William Jefferson was ousted Saturday from his New Orleans area district, while Republicans narrowly held on to the seat vacated by a retiring incumbent...

...In the 4th Congressional District in western Louisiana, Republican John Fleming squeaked past Democrat Paul Carmouche in the race to replace retiring 10-term Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La. Only a few hundred votes separated the two.

A NUCLEAR PEARL HARBOR?

Posted at 10:22 a.m. ET

The UN's man in charge of saving the world has admitted failure.  But, of course, he doesn't want anyone else to save it either.

Mohamed elBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, now concedes that all his efforts to restrain Iran's nuclear program have gone down the drain.  We are moved that he has told us this, now that Iran, according to many informed estimates, is one to two years away from the capacity to build the bomb.  The L.A. Times reports:

The chief of the world's nuclear weapons watchdog organization considers five years of U.S. and international efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions a failure, as Tehran moves ever closer to obtaining the means to develop weapons of mass destruction...

..."We haven't really moved one inch toward addressing the issues," said Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. "I think so far the policy has been a failure."

So we're back to square one, with a new president who's hot to negotiate, even though all the negotiations have failed.  What's wrong with that picture?

Of course, this UN chap has some advice:

The 66-year-old Egyptian diplomat and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate also urged world leaders to address broader unease about security, poverty and perceived injustice rather than zero in on narrow security concerns, such as nuclear weapons.

Narrow security concerns?  Yeah, right.  We've got to put this destruction of whole cities into perspective. 

And, of course, the required attack on President Bush:

He said U.S. President-elect Barack Obama gave him "lots of hope" after he inserted a proposal to abolish all nuclear weapons in the Democratic Party platform and advocated opening diplomatic dialogue with rivals.

"He is ready to talk to his adversaries, enemies, if you like, including Iran, also [North] Korea," he said, adding that the Bush administration was reluctant to do so. "To continue to pound the table and say, 'I am not going to talk to you,' and act in a sort of a very condescending way -- that exaggerates problems."

Fella, just what has all your talking accomplished?  You just admitted failure.  Yet you want us to pursue the same course.  Get into the real world, and then we can take you seriously.

During the interview, ElBaradei, who is scheduled to retire in about a year, shed his severe public persona, punctuating freewheeling comments about weapons proliferation, world peace and contemporary politics with laughter. He sat surrounded by his collection of African art while wearing a gray pinstriped suit and a bright orange Salvatore Ferragamo tie.

He spoke of possibly living in southern France, where he recently purchased a home.

Sounds reasonable.  He'd probably be safe from Iranian nuclear weapons in southern France.

Oh, and here's some more advice:

One hope of a diplomatic solution, he said, was for the U.S. and Iran to meet to begin talking, not just about nuclear technology but also about grievances that stretch from the 1950s, when the U.S. helped overthrow a democratically elected government, to the present, when Iranian and American surrogates vie for supremacy in several Middle East battlegrounds.

So let me get this right:  After elBaradei fails, and admits it, he really thinks Iran will give up its nuclear program if we talk to them about past grievances.  Yeah, of course they will.

He brushed aside the argument of some U.S. analysts who describe Iran as a messianic state determined to obtain nuclear weapons to launch a war against its archnemesis, Israel.

"When I go to Iran I see . . . that there are all different shades and colors in Iran, from atheist to religious zealots," he said. "So Iran is no different than any other country. I mean, they are connected with the rest of the world."

Just read that last comment again.  Would you trust this man with your children's lives?  He has the mentality of a 12-year-old.  The issue is not Iran's "diversity," but who controls the nuclear program.  The man understands nothing.

ElBaradei contended that the best route to avoiding the spread of nuclear weapons is building international trust.

"The system should not be based on, 'I am powerful militarily,' " he said. "The system should be based on, 'What contribution do I make to world civilization?' "

That's nice.  While we've on the way to your paradise, I'd like to keep the powder dry, if it's okay with you, Mohamed.

It's perfectly obvious that the wrong man has been in charge of nuclear nonproliferation, and the world may pay the price.

This is Pearl Harbor Day.  Remember what happened when attitudes like elBaradei's prevailed before World War II. 

December 7, 2008.      Permalink          

TODAY

Posted at 8:08 a.m. ET

It still gives me a chill to write the words, "Sunday, December 7..."  For the parents' and grandparents' generation, December 7, 1941, which President Roosevelt called "a date that will live in infamy," was the date that changed their world.  American entered World War II, and 400,000 Americans paid the price with their lives.

That generation had just gone through the Depression, and now was fighting the largest war in history.  It would return from that war to build a superpower, would fight again in Korea, and, although it's never given credit for it, pass the civil rights laws that started breaking down racism. 

The greatest generation.  A member of that generation, Ronald Reagan, entered the pantheon of great presidents. 

Standards in America today are, er, a bit lower.  After September 11, 2001, Americans responded with the spirit that has always moved them, but the battle in the war on terror has been borne by a very narrow group within the American population.  The elites are uninvolved, even hostile, although their grandparents were on the landing beaches of World War II.

The life of every one of our fighting men and women is precious, but we have lost fewer soldiers in this current struggle, now lasting seven years, than we lost on a small Pacific island called Iwo Jima in 1945.  And yet, look at the whining, the complaining, the talk about our being "war weary," an exhausted nation, stretched to its limit.  And look at the abuse heaped on President Bush, who is probably one of the least cynical presidents we've had in the last half century.

As we recall December 7, 1941, we might think of the ways in which we can restore the parts of the American ethic that have been eroded over the years.  It would be a fitting tribute to those who died as America entered World War II, and who might wonder what their sacrifice was all about. 

December 7, 2008.      Permalink