Casual Observation

14 Comments

1. 

   esquimaux on November 14, 2014 at 2:49 pm

   I hope you’re right, I’m expecting to have to remind you that you said it.

   If any of the stuff we’ve heard about is true the TPP is a very bad idea that would be great for the corporate owners of both parties. The only reason for Republicans to be against it is Obama’s involvement.

2. 

   Marie2 on November 14, 2014 at 2:59 pm

   When it’s something their masters want, they know how to hide it from their base voters.  After the fact, they’ll tout how “bipartisan” they are to get things done, and that always plays well with the small portion of so-called independents that do swing between the two parties.

3. 

   Oscar In Dallas on November 14, 2014 at 4:42 pm

   There is no chance of this coming Congress passing anything of any substance that the president will sign. None. Nada. Zilch.

4. 

   BGinCHI on November 14, 2014 at 5:17 pm

   These (congress)men are Nihilists, Donnie.

5. 

   TarheelDem on November 14, 2014 at 8:02 pm

   I think the agreement is slowly coming apart with what the various countries seek.  Japan and the US are at loggerheads because both heavily protect and subsidize their agricultural sectors.  Other nations are protective of their state-owned enterprises.

   And China is beginning to negotiate bilateral trade deals with its neighbors that do not sacrifice sovereignty to Chinese corporations.

   Getting the GOP Congress to shut down fast-track authority gets the President out of a political jam his early bipartisan strategy walked him into.  I’m far from convinced that more than a few select industries are really pushing this deal.  And among the ones that seem to be the loudest are the media industy (Hello, Chris Dodd) and the pharmaceutical industry (Hello, John Castellani).

   • 

     The Voice In The Wilderness on November 14, 2014 at 8:18 pm

     I hope you are right, but I think Obama really really wants this. He’s been a corporate Dem from the start and so is his mentor Durbin, not to mention his COS’s Emanuel and Daley (now serving the Rauner (R)) administration.

   • 

     esquimaux on November 14, 2014 at 8:52 pm

     if the Japanese kill this for the sake of their rice farmers it will be a classic example of doing the right thing for the wrong reason. If congressional repubs kill it because they hate Obama, ditto.

     • 

       Marie2 on November 14, 2014 at 9:13 pm

       So, Japan should kill off its rice farmers?  Maybe they took a look at Haiti that until the mid-eighties was self sufficient in rice production — Neo-liberalism came a knocking, form FP which is hardly a left-wing publication.

       In the wake of Haiti’s devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake exactly three years ago, former U.S. President Bill Clinton issued an unusual and now infamous apology. Calling his subsidies to American rice farmers in the 1990s a mistake because it undercut rice production in Haiti, Clinton said he had struck a “devil’s bargain” that ultimately resulted in greater poverty and food and insecurity in Haiti.

       “It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked,” he said. “I have to live every day with the consequences of the lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people, because of what I did.”
       …

       Not that Clinton’s “regret” changed a damn thing.

       …
       Since 1995, when it dropped its import tariffs on rice from 50 to 3 percent as part of a structural adjustment program run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, Haiti has steadily increased its imports of rice from the north. Today it is the fifth-largest importer of American rice in the world despite having a population of just 10 million. Much of Haiti’s rice comes from Arkansas; each year, Riceland Foods and Producers Rice Mill send millions of tons of rice down the Mississippi river on barges to New Orleans, where the rice is loaded onto container ships, taken to port in Haiti, and packaged as popular brands such as Tchaco or Mega Rice. Haiti today imports over 80 percent of its rice from the United States, making it a critical market for farmers in Arkansas.
       Development experts argue that while U.S. exports may feed people cheaply in the short run, they have exacerbated poverty and food insecurity over time, and subsidies are largely to blame. …

       • 

         seabe on November 14, 2014 at 10:25 pm

         They drop their tariffs, we subsidize agriculture, and everyone wins. And by everyone, I mean American elites. Haitians starve, and Americans get fat from eating sugar.

     • 

       seabe on November 14, 2014 at 10:17 pm

       Lot of economic evidence that food production — the bulk of it, anyway — should stay in your home country to avoid being controlled from the outside. So, I can’t say they’re doing it for the wrong reasons, really.

       Link

       • 

         The Voice In The Wilderness on November 15, 2014 at 7:28 pm

         Like apple juice from China, baby food from China, now chickens from China. I may switch to Amish chickens exclusively.

         • 

           mino on November 16, 2014 at 2:30 am

           Using foodstuffs to export to us the toxins our former industrial base imported to them.

6. 

   Marie2 on November 15, 2014 at 1:44 am

   Missed this one at BBC:

   Millions of YouTube viewers have been captivated by the ‘Syrian hero boy’ who manages to rescue a little girl while under gunfire.

   One minor problem with the ‘Syrian hero boy’ video:

   #BBCTrending: Syrian ‘hero boy’ video faked by Norwegian director

   …
   Lars Klevberg, a 34-year-old film director based in Oslo, wrote a script after watching news coverage of the conflict in Syria. He says he deliberately presented the film as reality in order to generate a discussion about children in conflict zones.

   Lars Klevberg, a 34-year-old film director based in Oslo, wrote a script after watching news coverage of the conflict in Syria. He says he deliberately presented the film as reality in order to generate a discussion about children in conflict zones.
   …

   Imagine with O’Keefe could do with Klebberg’s budget.  Start WWIII?

   • 

     hz on November 15, 2014 at 9:44 am

     Something about fake Syrian hero child films reminds me of an old song from when I was a kid, what was it? “Good Ol’ Shoe,” or some such…