James Clark Blog

About the time I think our inept young president can’t possibly do worse, he comes through. This time he has announced that his Supreme Court replacement for Associate Justice David Souter will be someone who will have “preconceived ideas” and who will decide cases “based on emotions, feelings or those preconceived ideas.”   This from a former professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago!  (Any first year law student will tell  you that a judge must discard preconceived ideas and decide cases based on the facts and the applicable law, leaving emotions and feelings out of it.)

As expected, this inane announcement has given the G.O.P. a huge warehouse of fodder to blast the young “in over his head” president.  Sure enough, the President has nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge of Puerto Rican origin.  Expect her to be confirmed by the Judiciary Committee and the U.S. Senate.

On the one hand I feel sorry for President Obama. He seemingly doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing and has evidently surrounded himself with a group of clueless dolts. But he asked for this office and I expect him to perform. I’m not holding my breath;  more idiotic decisions and positions are forthcoming. I am simply appalled.  Politics do not enter into my disappointment; only watching an unqualified person stumble through the most important office on the planet. It’s very sad having to watch.

Here is the “reform” Obama promised us that we are receiving:  1. About face on CIA torture photos. 2. Retention of military tribunals.  3. Justice Dept.  invoking “states secrets privilege” to get lawsuit on torture and rendition dismissed. 4. Vast increase in the “surge” in Afghanistan. 5. Withdrawal from Iraq more slowly.  6. Extended secret incursions over the Afghan border into Pakistan. 7.  Pansy diplomacy with Muslim nations.   8. Continuation of the Patriot Act. 9.  Electronic wiretaps. 10. e-mail intercepts. 11. Gitmo.   Boy, he promised “reform” and we’re getting it. I guess he doesn’t pay attention to polls showing Geo. W. Bush with a 20% overall approval rating and Dick Cheney 18%.  How can we square what this guy said while running for the Oval Office (and what he still says even today) with what he is doing?  The Republicans are overjoyed!  This guy is W light! Somewhere, probably in the S.M.U. gym in Dallas, Geo. W. Bush is smiling.

Word from Afghanistan is local tribal leaders are upset about foreign aid from America that is going to war department contractors, who then take a lion’s share of the money, then dribble a little out to local areas.  The Afghan tribal guys are threatening that if good old Uncle Sam doesn’t start giving the tons of cash directly to the local councils (for them to steal) “we’ll have to depend on the Taliban.”  America, as usual, always relents to these types of extortion threats.  Speaking as a party of one, I’m sick of it. Can you imagine what would happen if the Lone Grove, Oklahoma City Council “demanded” money from the U.S. government under threats?

When will we learn? Do we just have a crew of educated dolts running our government? Why not tell the Afghan thugs to “f___  yourselves and the burros you rode in on?”  We are powerless! Obama is running the same type of ill-fated campaign as W! We get no relief! Is there no end to extortion from these thugs who run a government not much advanced since Biblical days? Where’s the outrage?

Everyone should recall that the U.S. supported radical Muslims in the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and with the war over, found that it had armed and supplied a force that is inimical to it. With our new invasion of that backward country, we now are confronted with that force, and those arms.

There seemingly is no end to this. As I’ve said before, we’ll be in Afghanistan until the American people take to the streets to end it, just like Viet Nam.  I hold out little hope that our new president will do so.

Americans concerned with waste in our Congress & Senate should note how fortunate we are not to have a system like the one in Great Britain.  Members of Parliament routinely charge English taxpayers with a myriad of expenses that go beyond the pale. Michael Martin, the M.P. Speaker, just resigned over his expense submissions, which he fought in vain to keep from the public. (First time in 300 years a Speaker of the House of Parliament has been forced out of office, the last being John Trevor, having been convicted of a bribe in 1695). The cheating was uncovered by Heather Brooke, an American freelance writer living in London. The Daily Telegraph broke the story.

Check out the expenses the Honorable Michael Martin charged to the taxpayers:  Massage chair, pornographic movies, a moat cleaning service, a plasma TV, horse manure for his gardens, and tennis court repairs.  In resigning, the disgraced Speaker said “……I have always felt that the House is at its best when it is united. In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of speaker.”

M.P.’s have been abusing the lax British expense tax laws for years. “Second-home” allowances are the norm, with $40,000 a year in taxpayers’ money to renovate and even sell the properties for profit.  Some have even claimed monthly payments for mortgages long since paid off. How about putting one “Kit-Kat bar” on your expense claim and swearing under oath it’s legit?

For shame!

Went to Grapevine Mills in Texas last weekend.  In the mall were several new GM Saturns.  I took some time to look at one, which was open with a young attendant standing by. The car was stunning. White SUV with an impressive interior and all the options one would possibly want. I was taken with the vehicle until…..

Sticker on windshield. Remember, Saturn is the company that will not negotiate prices. What’s on the sticker is what you pay. This one was just under $40,000. With delivery costs and taxes, north of 40k.  That, in my view, is what’s wrong. New vehicles made by GM, Ford & Chrysler are simply overpriced. I would have loved to have owned that slick vehicle, but not at the quoted figure.  The young lady standing by the car seemed a little depressed, since I assume she knew that Saturn was being sold off by GM and would be no more.  So….I left the Saturn and went to one of my favorite stores in the mall, Steve & Barry’s. Upon arrival at the location, I found it had gone out of business.  Somehow that seemed fitting.

Another big reason the government should have stayed out of the auto manufacturing business & let the marketplace and the law handle the Big Three’s economic woes is the so-called “government backed warranty.”  If I had bought that new Saturn, I would be buying a vehicle with a company that goes out of business. What if I have a warranty claim? I would likely be required to trek through piles of online govenment paperwork, then be directed to a shop no telling where, to get the warranty work done. A government approved warranty shop for that Saturn might be 100, 200, or 500 miles away. Once you get that warranty service, be prepared to spend several hours filling out the paperwork. A nightmare. The US Bankruptcy Code is designed to handle individuals who spend more than they earn.  It will happen to GM, Chrysler, and possibly Ford. The only question is when.

Update: As of 21 May Chrysler is in Chapter 11. Dealers who get axed will be left with up to $500k in Chrysler parts plus another 300k or so in required-purchased Chrysler tools, will take a big hit.  (Chrysler won’t take them back, nor will the company pay warranty claims.)  So when you buy that new Chrysler, expect to pay for all that service. It’s a given. Same with GM, which has likewise invoked Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. What irritates me is that bankruptcy was always a foregone conclusion for these automakers, but they wisely chose to ask Uncle Sam for billions of dollars in a vain hope of staying solvent. It was never going to happen.

Every reader who has a teenage daughter or sister should require her to watch Liam Neeson’s new film TAKEN.  Neeson is dynamic as retired CIA agent Bryan Mills, who goes to Paris to rescue his 17-year old daughter from Albanian kidnappers. The film vividly reflects the dangers faced by a naive teenage girl in foreign lands. The movie is exciting and electrifying.  Using his CIA contacts at Langley, Neeson’s character is able to use a garbled tape of a cellphone conversation to determine the name of the girl’s kidnapper and that he is an Albanian National. The ring kidnaps young tourists, drugs them and uses them as prostitutes. Virgins (like Mills’ daughter) are auctioned off to Arab sheiks. Mills has a window of 96 hours to effect the rescue.  His anger and the film’s velocity is breathtaking.  Neeson is terrific in the role. A must see.  (The film’s a little over the top, in that Neeson kills off at least 10 men, including a corrupt former French police inspector but somehow gets to leave Chas. De Gaulle Airport with his daughter in hand, no problemo. Yeah, right). Also, why did he have a 96 hour window to get the girl? That wasn’t explained.  Still, fantasy as it was, the movie is interesting and keeps your attention.

NCAA storm clouds are hovering over the University of Southern California sports programs. The probe centers on lack of institutional control and failure to monitor the football and basketball programs at the school.  Here, in a nutshell, is what it’s all about:

1. O. J. Mayo. The Huntington, W. Va star, according to Louis Johnson, a one-time confidant, signed with USC and received approximately $30,000 from one Rodney Guillory, a “runner” for Bill Duffy Associates sport agency.  Food, clothing and a 42-inch flat screen TV went to Mayo, according to Johnson.  Johnson has told the NCAA, FBI, and IRS that Trojan basketball coach Tim Floyd gave Guillory $1,000 cash for his (Guillory) and Mayo’s weekend at a 2007 Las Vegas NBA All-Star program, and that Guillory received between $200,000 and $250,000 from BDA Sports for his efforts to successfully lure Mayo from the West Virginia high school to USC. Mayo denies the allegations. Late news from Los Angeles quotes sources as saying Coach Floyd will tender his resignation soon.

2. Reggie Bush. According to Lloyd Lake, co-founder of a failed sports marketing company, Bush and his family received nearly $300,000 in benefits when Bush was playing football at USC.  One widely circulated photo of Bush on the cover of a hot rod magazine showed him standing next to a customized 1964 Chevrolet that supposedly was worth over $60,000. Plus Bush’s family allegedly received housing benefits approaching $800,000 while Bush was a Trojan. Like Mayo, Bush denies the claims.

My prediction? The NCAA will dish out a two year probation period to USC that will be founded on Failure to Monitor, a step down from the dreaded Lack of Institutional Control.  (If USC escapes the institutional control strike, it will be very lucky.) Punishment: Banned from television and post-season games for two years, reduction in scholarship offers, forfeiture of victories during the violation periods, and a requirement that certain people in the sports programs be canned. (There likely will be a finding that USC also failed to self-report the violations to the NCAA which will be an enhancer).  Tim Floyd, Pete Carroll and AD Mike Garrett should be very, very concerned.

Interesting question: If the NCAA hammer falls, and USC has to forfeit its football victories, will that mean that their 55-19 2005 win over the University of Oklahoma Sooners will be reversed, giving OU a national championship?  Possibly.  Will Reggie Bush have to deliver his Heisman Trophy to the runner-up, Vince Young?  (Doubtful that the NCAA has that jurisdiction.)

Which brings us to a critical point:  When will reality come to Div. I sports, particularly football? Some fans are not aware that the expenditures for these schools come from revenues, and there’s nothing the state legislatures or concerned taxpayers can do about it.  Look for the day when coaches like Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, Pete Carroll, et al., are paid $5 to 10mm a year, all from revenues. Univ of Texas football alone brings in over 55mm to the program. So….I humbly ask When Are We Going To Start Paying The Athletes?  Seems only fair and that will take this NCAA hammer stuff out of the equation.

Regardless, sports fans should expect something explosive to come from all the SC stuff.  It looks gloomy in Trojan Nation.

I have a simple idea:  The Congress & Senate pass emergency legislation that would allow U.S. citizens to purchase treasury securities that would not only be exempt from state and federal income tax but more importantly, be exempt from state and federal estate tax.

Cap:  Three trillion dollars.

Purpose: Rebuild America’s infrastructure, bridges, roads, toll ways, federal buildings, national parks, dams, hydroelectric plants, borders, airports, ports, nuclear power stations, i.e., the works. Rebuild America from scratch and put millions to work, similar to a modern-day W.P.A.  Also create a universal health care system once and for all covering all U.S. citizens.

We would need a czar watchdog, like U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, to try to prevent waste and corruption, but all in all this would get America going again.

There would be an almost immediate 3 trillion dollars go into the treasury. This would work. Personal note: So far readers of this blog have endorsed this concept 100%. That means it stands no chance of being considered by our Congressmen and Senators.

Some impoverished Nigerians filed suit against Chevron in U.S. District Court in San Francisco alleging violations of human rights. Villagers from the Niger Delta region took Chevron to trial in an attempt to hold the company responsible for the 1998 shooting and mistreatment of protesters by Nigerian soldiers at Chevron’s Parabe offshore oil rig.  The villagers were protesting extensive environmental damage they said the oil company’s operations inflicted on the region, including destruction of farmland and  fisheries that provided their livelihoods.  A jury returned a verdict for Chevron.

Chevron then asked the trial judge to impose trial costs of more than $500,000 against the villagers, who live on less than $100 per month. The judge refused, citing Chevron’s earnings in 2008 of nearly $24 billion. Lawyers for the villagers have appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The trial costs were leveled against the Nigerians and their lawyers. Taken from the Los Angeles Times – Reporter:  Carol Williams       carol.williams@latimes.com