I have to ask: What did she win that she did not earn? What has she lost that she did earn?

Across much of the pro-Hillary blogosphere there were headlines of Victory! and chants of Yeah! Yeah! Yeahs!. It escapes me how this is a victory or the why of the euphoria. What did she win? Maybe I am missing something but as of August 28th, Senator Barack Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party as a result of a process that is tainted. I see no reason to celebrate this. But even more than that, Senator Clinton was forced to negotiate her roll call nomination. Such a fate had never befallen a major candidate of the party. Why should I celebrate that Obama acquiesed in granting her a symbolic moment. She earned that right by garnering 18 million votes. Obama won more pledged delegates, I don’t dispute that, but did he win more votes? It is not clear in my mind that he did.

It concerns me that with just ten days to go before the Democratic convention, there remains a dangerous suspension of disbelief. Obama is the nominee. I don’t like that fact but that is the reality. A floor fight? To what end? Perhaps Americans do not understand the concept of a coup. A coup is when power is usurped. I hate to break it to my fellow PUMAs but within the structure of the Democratic Party this coup is a fait accompli. The Democratic Party machinery belongs to Barack Obama. He is the Democratic Party or at least the face of it. He is not its soul. That soul evaporated on May 31st.

Notions of a counter-coup are far-fetched. Name one senior leader of the Democratic Party ready to stand up and say I object to Barack Obama on principle. Name one. Name a minor one. Without someone to lead a revolt amongst the superdelegates, any expectation of an outcome other than one that has been pre-ordained and decided is sheer folly. The convention is a show. Conventions are scripted events now and have been since the 1956 conventions. They are designed so nothing can go wrong. I ain’t watching. If I want comedic drama, I’ll watch Ugly Betty.

(more…)

The Queen is putting up her heels. The notoriously lovable drag queen Heklina will end her twelve year run at Trannyshack, a gay club party held at San Francisco’s The Stud bar. Actually, I have never been. I am not a bar type, I was more a clubbing gay boy and while The Stud does offer dancing, the space is tight on the dance floor. The main impediment, however, to my attendance is that Trannyshack starts at midnight on Tuesday night. Hard to fit that into a Wall Street career.

My roommates have gone and over the years, word would filter through the ghetto that is the Castro about who made appearances at Trannyshack. Stars like Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry and RuPaul among others all trekked there. Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters got her start there. Not just an event and a show, Trannyshack ran AIDS fundraisers and provided a political education to many gay boys on the lives of transexuals. Every year, the main event was the Trannyshack Beauty Pagent that became a required stop for city politicos. I remember former Mayor Willie Brown pictured there with drag queens kissing him from every side.

The closing event will be held Saturday, August 23rd at the Regency Center (not at The Stud), 1300 Sutter at Van Ness. Doors open at 9PM, show starts at 10 PM sharp. Heklina appreciates punctuality.

Return to Main

The F-Line Street Car in San Francisco

Unlike most American cities in San Francisco, we never fell for the General Motors-led assault on American streetcars (trolleys). In the post World War II boom and rush to consumerism coupled with the flight to the suburbs American cities tore up their streetcar lines. In San Francisco, the street car continues to plow along slowly running from Market and 17th Street in the Castro through Hayes Valley and into the Financial District and as part of the post 1989 earthquake urban renewal the city expanded the service up the Embarcadero and up around to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. The streetcars are historic and we import them from other cities who shuttered their lines. The San Francisco streetcars continue to bear the original colours and ensignia of the cities they came from. We have streetcars from Boston, Louisville, Cincinnati, Milan, Zurich, Kansas City and Philadelphia among others. The streetcars are not just for tourists, they form part of our local transportation infrastructure along the city’s main Market Street thoroughfare.

And of course in Europe, streetcars never stopped chugging covering European cities from one end to the other. Quick they are not but efficient they are and they run on electrical power not fossil fuels. Now of course, the rush is to light rail, another part of our San Francisco urban transport infrastructure. San Francisco built its light rail system in the early 1970s and we are continuing to expand. Last year, the city opened the Third Street Rail T-line running down past South Beach and AT&T Park into China Basin and down to Bay View and Hunter’s Point, blighted neighbourhoods that had been dependent on bus lines. Four bus lines were decommissioned with the new light rail lines. Portland has been the other leading light rail proponent and now other cities are rushing to undo the colossal mistake made in the 1940s.

From the New York Times:

From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this city’s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.

“Human beings can be silly because we move away from things too quickly in this country,” Mr. de Cavel said. “Streetcar is definitely going to create a reason for young people to come downtown.”

Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the city’s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and Uptown neighborhoods, which include six hospitals and the University of Cincinnati, in a six- to eight-mile loop. Depending on the final financing package, fares may be free, 50 cents or $1.

The city plans to pay for the system with existing tax revenue and $30 million in private investment. The plan requires the approval of Mayor Mark Mallory, a proponent, and the City Council.

At least 40 other cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development, ease traffic congestion and draw young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers back from the suburbs, according to the Community Streetcar Coalition, which includes city officials, transit authorities and engineers who advocate streetcar construction.

(more…)

I knew he was a scumbag but he’s even more of a scumbag than previously imagined. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega today canceled his trip to Asunción, Paraguay for the inauguration of Fernando Lugo on Sunday in the wake of serious allegations that he is a serial rapist. It’s not just rape that he stands accused of, Ortega stands accused of raping his step daughter Zoilamérica Narváez over a period of twenty years.

In the face of these revelations, the incoming Paraguayan Foreign Minister and Women’s Affairs Minister led a last minute campaign to prevent Ortega from preventing the inauguration. Ortega demurred citing that he had “matters to attend to in Nicaragua.” The report in Spanish from Venezuela’s Noticias 24.

Return to Main

The Obama campaign today agreed to put Senator Hillary Clinton’s name in nomination at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver.

“I am convinced that honoring Sen. Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong, united fashion,” Barack Obama said in a statement issued jointly by their two press offices.

It’s an empty gesture and it doesn’t appease me. I am still not voting for Obama. Obama is clearly in trouble and he hopes that by putting Senator Clinton in nomination that will close the gap with the approximate 30% of Clinton supporters not on board with the very junior Senator from Illinois. To begin with this move is purely symbolic though it does raise one interesting question. How will Senator Clinton the superdelegate vote when own her name is put into nomination? Will she vote for herself or ride the unity pony?

The other point is that Senator Hillary should have never been put in the position of having to negotiate her name being put into nomination. She’s entitled to it. Never before in the long history of the Democratic Party has a candidate, and especially one who won more votes than any other previous candidate in history (yes, she won more votes but didn’t win more delegates) had to negotiate a roll call vote. That she was put in this position is something I am not overlooking.

Here’s the story in the Los Angeles Times and from ABC News.

There are many Clinton supporters who still harbour illusions that Senator Clinton will wrest the nomination away from Senator Obama. Get real. That’s not going to happen. Obama would have to implode or suffer some act of god for that to happen. And while Obama’s poll numbers are sagging, the bottom hasn’t dropped out either. It’s pretty clear that Obama’s ceiling in the polls is about 51% to 52% but his floor has been 44% to 45%. Bill Clinton won the Presidency with 43% of the vote in 1992 in a three way race. Right now third party candidates combined (Nader, Barr, McKinney) are polling 7%-8%, ergo Obama can win with the level of support he has now. Though frankly, it is the Electoral College that matters, not the popular vote.

Unless Obama’s poll numbers drop under 40% and probably more, I don’t think the leadership at the DNC or in the Democratic Party is going to panic and throw in the towel. First of all, the DNC and most of the superdelegates suffer from their own delusions thinking that this race cannot be lost. It can but it is also fair to say that Obama still leads in most polls and in every single Electoral College scenario. If Obama can win all of the states that John Kerry won and take just either Colorado or Virginia, Obama is the 44th President of the United States. Right now he leads in Colorado and trails in Virginia by a mere point in a state that George W. Bush won by nine points. Second of all and probably more importantly, consider the impact should Obama be denied the prize most believe that he won. While we are angry at how the nomination went down, Obama’s supporters would burn Denver and probably other major cities in the United States. And if I were an Obama superdelegate who suddenly saw the light, I’d be faced with the stark reality that my life would be in jeopardy. Some of Obama’s supporters are little more than a Plebian mob. Look at what dissenting disaffected Democrats have endured and ask yourself what are Obama supporters capable of.

This agreement to put Hillary’s name in nomination does not change a thing. Senator Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. That was decided and scripted long ago by a DNC Politboro and this is a ploy, a play for some symbolic moment that appeases the Clintonistas. I don’t do symbolism, I don’t do appeasement nor do I give into Soviet-style politics. The Democratic primary process was not transparent and the system is incredibly flawed but that’s the reality. And the other reality of Obama as the Democratic nominee remains why I am not excited.

Return to Main

Time to tout my own horn. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are today reporting that President Pervez Musharaff will resign in the next few days.

Here’s the report from today’s New York Times:

Faced with desertions by his political supporters and the neutrality of the Pakistani military, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, an important ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather than face impeachment charges, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said Thursday.

His departure from office would be likely to unleash new instability in the country as the two main parties in the civilian government jockeyed for the division of power.

The details of how Mr. Musharraf would exit, and whether he would be able to stay in Pakistan — apparently his strong preference — or would seek residency abroad were now under discussion, the politicians said.

Mr. Musharraf was expected to resign before the governing coalition presented charges for impeachment to the Parliament early next week, said Nisar Ali Khan, a senior official in the Pakistani Muslim League-N, the minority partner in the coalition government.

Here’s the report from today’s Wall Street Journal:

President Pervez Musharraf is expected to leave office in the next few days before Pakistan’s Parliament takes up impeachment proceedings against him, following a breakthrough in secret talks designed to ease his departure from office, people familiar with the situation say.

“Musharraf will neither face impeachment nor be prosecuted,” one person said. Mr. Musharraf is expected to step down once a guarantee of safe passage and immunity from prosecution has been struck. “We expect a major development in the next 48 hours,” this person said.

The secret talks have involved Mr. Musharraf’s aides and members of the leading political party.

Here’s my post from August 12, 2008 Musharaff to Resign?

According to The Nation of Lahore, one of the leading English-language newspapers in Pakistan, General Pervez Musharaff will step down as President of Pakistan soon after Pakistan’s Independence Day which is August 14th.

It pays to read the local papers and to know which sources are credible.

Return to Main

The Russian newspaper Pravda has an editorial out today entitled USA must choose between its virtual project of Georgia and real partnership with Russia. Sorry but the West doesn’t do partnerships with states that invades other states (though we actually have but that’s besides the point and not of my own choosing, Turkey comes to mind). When it comes to Russia, there is zero tolerance for this sort of behaivour.

The word from Pravda:

The USA must choose between the real partnership with Russia and “the virtual project of Georgia,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Wednesday. “We realize and everyone writes about it that Georgia today is a special project of the USA. We understand that the USA worries about the fate of this project,” the minister added.

“But here we have either the notion of prestige about the virtual project or partnership, which requires collective actions to be taken,” the minister said.

Lavrov said that he was on the phone with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday.

“The US administration claims that illegal armed groups pillage the people on the outskirts of Gori [a town in Georgia] and that the Russian military do not take any measures. If something like that is confirmed – on the outskirts of Gori, Tskhinvali or anywhere else – we will react in the most serious way,” the minister said.

“The Russian Armed Forces and the Russian peacemakers have the order from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, i.e. the president of Russia, to observe all martial laws. Civilians must be protected against infringements of human life and dignity. We will look into every message saying that it is taking place and we will not let this happen,” Lavrov said.

As for the USA’s approach to the situation in the conflict zone, the Russian minister commented George W. Bush’s statement about South Ossetia:

“The qualification of the speechwriters, who prepared the statement, surprised me again,” Lavrov stated.

(more…)

The Eurozone economy (the countries that use the Euro) shrank by 0.2% during the second quarter fo 2008, with a decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP is the sum of all goods and services produced in a country) in Germany weighing down the currency bloc. Germany doesn’t appear to be headed into a recession as yet, but other European countries are already technically there. The Eurozone (EA15) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland.

Germany and France, the Eurozone’s two biggest economies, shrank in the second quarter as slowing sales hit business investment and rising inflation reduced consumer spending power. German gross domestic product fell a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from the first quarter, when it rose a revised 1.3% while in France, GDP declined 0.3%, compared with a 0.4% gain in the previous three-month period.

German GDP Falls 0.5%
The German economy, Europe’s largest, contracted for the first time in almost four years in the second quarter, led by a slump in construction. Gross domestic product fell a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from the first quarter, when it rose a revised 1.3 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists expected a 0.8 percent decline, the median of 41 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey showed. In the year, the economy grew 1.7 percent when adjusted for the number of working days. More from Bloomberg News.

French GDP Falls 0.3%
In France the news wasn’t much better. In France, gross domestic product fell 0.3% during the second quarter, the INSEE statistics agency said, on declining capital formation and exports. Economists had expected a 0.2% quarterly rise. More from Market Watch.

Italy’s GDP Falls O.3%
Last week, Italy reported that GDP contracted 0.3% percent quarter-on-quarter. Italy is the third largest economy in the Eurozone.

Spain Ekes Out a 0.1% Gain in GDP
Spain, grew 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and up 1.8% in the 12 months to June 2008, the Bank of Spain said today. The results are the weakest in the 15 years.

Dutch Q2 GDP Flat
Quarter over quarter, the Netherlands was flat. There was no growth, the poorest performance in three years. However for the year, GDP in the Netherlands rose 2.8%.

More from the UK Guardian.

Outlook for Business Activity in the Eurozone

The most optimistic forecasts for the business outlook were from manufacturers in the Netherlands (+37%) and Germany (+26.1%), while the gloomiest outlook came from Spain (–26.6%) and Ireland (–5.0%).

Inflation Concerns
Concerns about stagflation – the combination of deteriorating activity levels and rising inflation – were widespread in the latest survey period and significantly impacted on manufacturers’ optimism regarding their future performance. Confidence fell across all EU nations and all sectors covered by the survey in the areas of business activity, business revenues, new orders, profits, employment and capacity utilisation.

Inflation in the 15-nation Eurozone held steady at 4 percent in July, slightly lower than the anticipated 4.1 percent. But that figure is still double the 2 percent guideline recommended by the European Central Bank (ECB). In June, the bank increased its key interest rate from 4 percent to 4.25 percent in order to try to put the brakes on surging inflation.

Below the fold, a report from Germany’s Der Spiegel.
(more…)

The Spy Who Cooked

I had the pleasure of cooking for Julia Child once and more importantly the honour of being fed by Julia Child on two other occasions. Her influence on me was immeasureable. Other children watch the Saturday morning cartoons, I watched the cooking shows on PBS. I remember I made a Salmon & Scallop Mousse followed by a Chicken Tarragon with a Wild Mushroom Risotto. My mother, as always, made dessert, a Floating Island that as always stole the show. Julia did rave about my hors d’oeuvres my Stuffed Prunes with Bacon (recipe below the fold) and my Asparagus Rolls (you’ll have to buy my cookbook). Her story-telling abilities rank second to none and now I know why, she was a spy for the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA. Julia Child, the spy who cooked.

From the Associated Press:

Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.

They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The full secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.

They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.

(more…)

Here is news from Latin America.

Two Bolivian Governors Will Step Down
Two opposition governors say they will step down without contesting their defeat in a recall referendum. President Evo Morales sought the referendum to try to topple governors who have frustrated his bid to improve the plight of Bolivia’s long-suppressed indigenous majority. Two Morales foes were among the three ousted in the vote, according to early election results.

Cochabamba Governor Manfred Reyes previously threatened to challenge results of the referendum, but instead announced his departure on Tuesday through spokesman Jhonny Ferrel (Latin Americans for some reason mispell the name John, Jhon). La Paz state Governor Jose Luis Paredes will leave office once an interim governor is designated by Morales. Oruro Governor Luis Alberto Aguilar, a Morales supporter, also was defeated. The five main opposition governors all won their votes easily.

Ecuador Will Hold Its Constitutional Referendum on September 28
The Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE), Ecuador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, has chosen September 28th, 2008 to hold the referendum on a new Constitution for Ecuador.

The new Constitution was written by allies of Ecuador’s leftist President, Rafael Correa. Voting in Ecuador is mandatory for all Ecuadorian citizens over the age of 18 who literate whether they live in Ecuador or not. Illiterates are not required to vote. Approxiamtely 9 million Ecuadoreans are eligible to vote. The vote is a yes or no vote on the following question:

¿Aprueba usted el texto de la nueva Constitución Política de la República elaborado por la Asamblea Constituyente?

Do you approve the text of the new Political Constitution of the Republic as written by Constitutional Assembly?

If you read Spanish, you can download the new Constitution here. I haven’t read it as yet.

Uruguayan Finance Danilo Astori To Step To Run for Presidency
Uruguay’s Economy Minister Danilo Astori will step down in September to devote his time to his campaign to become the ruling coalition’s next presidential candidate. Laws in Colombia and Uruguay do not permit current office holders from running for the Presidency in order to avoid conflict of interests. For example if such a law were in effect in the United States, Senators Clinton, Biden, Obama, Dodd and McCain would have had to resign their Senate seats in order to run for the Presidency.

Uruguay President Dr. Tabaré Vazquez, a medical doctor by profession, said the change in ministers won’t herald any changes to his pragmatic center-left government’s economic or monetary policies. Vazquez said Astori will leave office Sept. 15. He will be replaced by Alvaro García, former director of the state National Development Corp. Vazquez said Monday that Astori plans to work on his bid to be the presidential candidate for the Broad Front coalition in October 2009 elections. García said as minister he will maintain the same ”broad macro-economic policies” as his predecessor, but also will seek to support small businesses and redistribute wealth.

More news from Cuba, Brazil and Haiti below the fold.
(more…)