The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.
Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.
About a third of the victims were spouses, girlfriends, children or other relatives, among them 2-year-old Krisiauna Calaira Lewis, whose 20-year-old father slammed her against a wall when he was recuperating in Texas from a bombing near Falluja that blew off his foot and shook up his brain.
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., the U.S. bank facing an estimated $4.21 billion fourth-quarter loss, may get cash infusions from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and China's government to bolster its capital.
Citigroup, the largest U.S. lender, is seeking a total of $8 billion to $10 billion from investors including Alwaleed, who already owns almost 4 percent of its shares, and China Development Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Chinese bank is likely to invest about $2 billion, the newspaper said.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday the city would not accept a $10 million donation for disaster relief from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after the prince suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the September 11 attacks.
"I entirely reject that statement," Giuliani said. "There is no moral equivalent for this [terrorist] act. There is no justification for it. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people."
Prince Alwaleed gave the mayor a check after a Thursday morning memorial service at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the attacks.
The prince offered his condolences to the people of New York, but after the ceremony he released a statement suggesting the United States "must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack."
I certainly don't think generational change has gotten rid of racism and sexism, but I do have some hope that it is getting rid of this Archie Bunker-like obsession with race and gender.
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (CNN) -- Attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq with bombs believed linked to Iran -- known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) -- have risen sharply in January after several months of decline, according to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. art.efp.gi.jpg
Iraqi and U.S. officials indicated just a month ago that Iran was using its influence to improve security in Iraq by restraining cross-border weapons flow and militia activity. The U.S. military had said in recent months that the number of EFP attacks had gone down.
Gen. David Petraeus disclosed the reversal to reporters after a meeting with President Bush who was visiting troops in Kuwait.
"In this year, EFPs have gone up, actually, over the last 10 days by a factor of two or three, and frankly we're trying to determine why that might be," Petraeus said.
Because those stupid Arabs - who, just a few years ago, had enough WMD to DESTROY THE WORLD - couldn't make such things. Only the wily Persians can.
Bleichwehl said troops, facing scattered resistance, discovered a factory that produced "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs), a particularly deadly type of explosive that can destroy a main battle tank and several weapons caches.
It was probably a slip of the tongue by President Bush, who continued his Middle East tour by arriving in Kuwait today. During a roundtable interview with Arab journalists before leaving Washington, he made a curious statement while he was lauding political reforms by pro-U.S. rulers in the conservative Gulf countries. "You know," he said, "women are now very active in the Kuwaiti parliament." Well, no woman has ever been elected to the Kuwaiti parliament.
The story says a lot about America and the Middle East. What Bush may have been thinking about is the fact that Kuwait has indeed been taking gradual steps to grant women more basic rights, including the right to vote. Kuwait has long been regarded as the most liberal Arab country in the Gulf, with an elected parliament dating back to 1963. (Saudi Arabia still lacks one.) In 1999, amid a campaign by courageous Kuwaiti women activists, Kuwait's ruler tried to decree women's suffrage, but parliament blocked him. In 2005, parliament finally passed legislation giving women the right to vote, and in 2006, women voted and became candidates in elections for parliament. Twenty-seven women were among the 249 candidates competing for 50 seats, yet none of them won, though the balloting was considered free and fair. By virtue of being a cabinet member, one woman, Education Minister Nuriya al-Sabeeh, is currently permitted to vote on legislation, but is not an MP as such.
And while I appreciate that the light needs to shine on such stupidity occasionally, I do not understand the endless efforts to actually grapple with his very serious, thoughtful, argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care.
By now, Rudy and his people should've realized that what he really should have done was not campaign at all. Outside the warped twisted world of the Hardball studio, Rudy is a positively creepy dude, the kind of guy who you run away from as quickly as possible if you're unfortunate enough to get stuck talking to him at a party. I was watching a bit of him on CNBC last night and he's positively bizarre to watch.
The memory of the Mayor of 9/11 might haveve won it for him, if only he'd stayed hidden in his crypt for all of these months instead of going out into the light.
California has a new budget crisis. Wonder when Mickey Kaus will call for Arnie's recall. As is typical, Arnie's calling for new fees which aren't the same as taxes, calling for new bond issues which aren't the same as borrowing, and of course cutting spending for stupid stuff like education and help for poor people.
It's a wee bit of a problem when a major bond insurer has to pay such high rates.
NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A planned $1 billion debt sale by a unit of MBIA Inc (MBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) may yield about 14 percent, higher than levels discussed on Thursday, according to an investor familiar with the deal on Friday.
The issue of so-called surplus notes by MBIA Insurance Corp. is part of an effort by the bond insurer to buoy capital and preserve its "AAA" rating. Investors on Thursday said dealers were negotiating a coupon rate between 9 percent and 12 percent, nearly double what similarly rated bonds offer.
Surplus notes, unique to insurers, can bolster MBIA's balance sheet since they can be classified as equity.
...adding, the high rate reflects risk of nonpayment, which reflects the fact that the bond insurer isn't exactly on solid footing, which means all of those insured bonds aren't really insured.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Bank of America Corp. said on Friday it's purchasing Countrywide Financial Corp. for $4 billion, effectively doubling down on a previous investment in the troubled firm and catapulting the buyer into the top spot among mortgage lenders and loan servicers in the U.S. The stock-swap deal will put an end to the independence of the troubled California lender headed by Angelo Mozilo, and represents an increase from the Charlotte, N.C., bank's August investment of about $2 billion. "We believe this is the right decision for our shareholders, customers and employees," said Mozilo, Calabasas, Calif.-based Countrywide's chairman and chief executive, in a statement. Terms call for Countrywide stockholders to receive 0.1822 of a share of Bank of America stock in exchange for each share they own. At Thursday's close, that values Countrywide at $7.16 a share -- lower than the $7.75 closing price after news leaked of a possible deal.
Merrill Lynch is expected to suffer $15 billion in losses stemming from soured mortgage investments, almost double its original estimate, prompting the firm to raise additional capital from an outside investor.
Merrill, the nation’s largest brokerage firm, is expected to disclose the huge write-down when it reports earnings next week, according to people who have been briefed on its plans. The loss far exceeds the $12 billion hit many Wall Street analysts had forecast.
Kit Seelye covering Fred Thompson lumping together stereotypes about Arab Islamic suicide bombers with the Persian members of the Iranian military.
Confrontation at Sea Mr. Thompson rocks tonight. Asked about the recent confrontation between United States warships and Iranian speedboats, he suggests casually that if Iran’s Revolutionary Guard becomes more hostile, the Iranians will see those virgins they’ve been looking for.
Check out the nicer restaurants in Manchester, N.H., or Des Moines, Iowa, in the political season and you will see the same group of journalists and pols dining together almost every night. We go to events together, make travel plans together and read each other's work compulsively. We go to the same websites — the Drudge Report, Real Clear Politics, Time’s “The Page” — to see what each other is writing, and it’s only human nature to respond to it.
Drudge: conservative. Real Clear Politics: conservative. Halperin, formerly of the Note: conservative (I don't know what his personal politics are, just judging the product).
And that's all you need to know about the Villagers.
I just like how, when they're anchoring events together, Olbermann just stares at Tweety like he's the crazy drunk uncle.
But he seems to be doing well for himself in the office now. Tullis cites a senior executive at MSNBC, who says, "Keith runs MSNBC. It's been an amazing turnaround, because two years ago they were going to cancel him. Because of his success, he's in charge. Chris Matthews is infuriated by it."
One of our principles at the outset of this audacious project was transparency and openness. Too often in our recent political history, what you see has not been what you get.
For this reason, we are writing you today to lay out the current status of Unity08 and its possible paths going forward.
First, however, it's important to reflect upon what we have accomplished together in shaping the current political discussion and building a sense of what is possible in this crucial election year. Two of our core ideas, the importance of a centrist, bi-partisan approach to the solving of our nation's problems and the possibility of an independent, unity ticket for the presidency, have already come from far-out to mainstream.
Barack Obama, for example, has made the theme of unity and the necessity of bridging the partisan divide an absolutely central theme of his campaign. And just last week, a group of former and present national office holders comprised of independents, Republicans and Democrats met in Oklahoma for the sole purpose of stating their belief that at the present perilous moment, a unity government is the only hope of solving the nation's mounting problems. When you find agreement between the likes of former RNC chairman Bill Brock and Gary Hart, you're onto something.
And, of course, waiting in the wings should the divide persist, is the potential of a serious non-partisan candidacy in the person of the Mayor of New York (two of our founders, Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon, have stepped down from the board and may have more to say about their plans in the near future). Waiting in the wings, should the divide persist, is the potential of a serious non-partisan candidacy by Mike Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York (two of our founders, Doug Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon, have stepped down from the board and may have more to say about their plans in the near future).
Can Unity08 take full credit for these remarkable developments? Of course not. But through this website, your active involvement, innumerable news stories, op-eds, and public appearances by friends like Sam Waterston, we certainly have helped to bring these ideas to the forefront of the current political discussion.
So in a larger sense, we have accomplished a major portion of what we set out to do. But in the specifics and logistics, we have fallen short.
At the current moment, we don't have enough members or enough money to take the next step toward achieving ballot access in 50 states, reaching the goal of establishing our online convention, and nominating a Unity ticket for president and vice president this coming fall.
The past year has taught us that it's tough to rally millions for a process without a candidate or an issue. In the past, third party movements that have broken through the monopoly of the established parties have always been based on a person (Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 or Ross Perot in the last decade) or a burning issue (slavery in the case of the insurgent Republican party in 1860). Motivating people to fix a broken system that drives candidates to the extremes by creating something more inclusive and sensible has proven to be a lot harder than we expected.
And the Federal Election Commission hasn't helped. The Commission has taken the position that we are subject to their jurisdiction (even though two United States Supreme Court decisions hold exactly opposite) and, therefore, that we are limited to $5000 contributions from individuals (even though the Democratic and Republican Parties are able to receive $25,000 from individuals). Needless to say, this position by the FEC effectively limited our fundraising potential, especially in the crucial early going when we needed substantial money fast to get on with ballot access and the publicity necessary to build our membership.
We were caught in a peculiar catch-22; we wanted to break the dependence on big money by getting lots of small contributions from millions of members, but needed some up-front big money to help generate the millions of members to make the small contributions. And the FEC (in effect, an arm of the parties) didn't let that happen. We have challenged this ruling in the federal courts, but are still awaiting a decision and time is running out.
And so reluctantly, especially given the volatility of the present situation, we're forced to scale back, but not cease our operations, and suspend our ballot access project. Our website will become less interactive (it takes staff to answer hundreds of e-mails a day) and we can't in good faith make the $5 million commitment necessary to make a serious start
.jpg)
