WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing a comprehensive strategy to address the escalating financial crisis, stem home foreclosures and jump-start the overall economy, signaling that the president hopes to deal with the problems systematically instead of case by case. The plan probably will not be delivered for several weeks, Timothy Geithner, the nominee for Treasury secretary, said Wednesday. ‘We’re at the beginning of this process of repairing the system, not close to the end of that process,’ Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee. ‘And it is going to require much more substantial action on a very dramatic scale.’ But on the banking front, it remains to be seen how much time the administration has to come up with a plan. For the last several weeks, Obama and his aides had hoped that the financial system, though seriously weakened, would remain stable enough to allow the administration to focus on repairing the broader economy, which would help lift the prospects of financial firms along with those of ordinary Americans. But fear of a wider banking collapse has grown in recent days, with signs that losses at major banks are deepening. Wall Street gave the […]
When I arrive, Freeland Hall at the South end of Whidbey Island, which lies a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle, is already packed. It is a big Northwestern wooden hall, one huge room with some satellite spaces. People are spilling out of doors, and their happy sound is shaped into ethereal waves of laughter by the mist that hangs in the trees of deep green surrounding the building. The light is diffused, its nimbus hangs in the air with the fog. The heat of many bodies welcomes me like a cub to the den, as I enter. Even before the faces come into focus, the wild array of clothes registers. If formal- a man in a Fraser plaid dinner jacket – the intent is clearly ironic, if relaxed, whimsical. The Eagles are on offer, and at the back of the stage, while their music drives the dancing, a projection of the inauguration plays, filling a wall, without sound. Periodically, like a ripple in a pond disturbed, hands fly up and cheering begins. It is clear everyone has already seen today’s events, and the cheers are for favorite moments, as they scroll across the giant screen. […]
Don’t fret. You still have plenty of time left to secure your place at the second annual International Conference on Climate Change to be held in New York, 8-10 March 2009. For any of you who are not yet familiar with this venerable event, this conference is the largest coming together of climate change sceptics anywhere outside of, well, the internet. Organised and sponsored by the Heartland Institute which says its mission is to ‘discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems’ and which Milton Friedman once called ‘a highly effective libertarian institute’, the conference will be asking whether global warming ‘was ever really a crisis’. ‘Unfortunately, politicians respond to the loudest and best-funded interest groups, not to the voices of scientists or the average Joe. So they are in a tizzy about ‘doing something’ to ‘stop global warming’¦As we did in March 2008, we will bring together hundreds of scientists, economists, and policy experts to explore areas overlooked or even deliberately hidden by the alarmists who dominate the public debate concerning climate change.’ Sounds fun, doesn’t it? There’s nothing quite like putting tizzying politicians right. But best of all, […]
LONDON — As President-elect Barack Obama takes office Tuesday vowing to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as soon as possible, European politicians are debating whether their countries should help him shut it down by accepting some of the remaining detainees who are living in limbo. Europe rebuffed the Bush administration when it asked for help resettling detainees who were cleared for release but are unable to return to their home countries for fear of persecution. Eager to get off on the right foot with a new U.S. administration, however, some foreign ministers have indicated that they’d be more flexible - if their national police ministries agree and if Obama asks. ‘We have definitely seen a shift since Obama’s election,’ said Camilla Jelbart of Amnesty International in London, which has lobbied governments on the issue. Before the U.S. election, she said, the attitude in Europe was ‘this is the U.S.’s mess. Why should we step forward?’ Portugal took the lead last month when Foreign Minister Luis Amado agreed to accept Guantanamo detainees and urged his European colleagues to do the same. Britain, too, sounds willing to consider resettling additional detainees beyond the nine British nationals who were […]
WASHINGTON — A relaxed and upbeat Barack Obama invoked the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. and lavished praise on two prominent Republicans in calling for a new spirit of bipartisanship. After visiting wounded veterans and helping volunteers paint a dorm for homeless teens in Washington, Obama dashed to three black-tie dinners Monday night. One honored Sen. John McCain, the Republican he defeated in November, and another honored Colin Powell, who was secretary of state for President George W. Bush. The third dinner was for Joe Biden, who will take the vice presidential oath of office before Obama becomes president on the Capitol steps Tuesday. Obama called McCain and Powell American heroes who set standards of patriotism and bipartisanship for all to follow. He hugged McCain onstage and called for Americans’ help ‘in making this bipartisan dinner not just an inaugural tradition, but a new way of doing the people’s business in this city.’ Throughout the day, Obama showed no hints of nervousness about becoming president within hours. ‘I don’t sweat,’ he told volunteers at Sasha Bruce House, a shelter for homeless teens in one of Washington’s poorer neighborhoods. ‘You ever see me sweat?’ […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
