State of the Superpower

I live in Singapore and fly in and out of its super efficient airport at least a few times a month. It’s the only airport in the world I know of, by the way, where you can clear customs, retrieve your luggage, and be in a cab in less than 15 minutes.
Anyway, I often see […]

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Lurita Doan, head of General Services Administration (GSA), resigned yesterday. Mrs. Doan, a Bush appointee, is accused of approving a no bid government contract to a friend and using her office to advance Republican candidates.
Mrs. Doan also attempted to cut the GSA inspector general budget. The inspector general is responsible for investigating internal wrongdoing.
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I don’t think it will surprise anyone that not one American airport made Skytrax’s 2007 list of top ten airports in the world. (The 2008 results will be available in two months, but don’t hold you’re breath.)
I recently passed though two of the airports on the list, Singapore (number three on the list and my […]

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Despite dire predictions of recession, the US economy actually grew 0.6% in the first quarter of 2008.  Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of goods and services a country produces.
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An entire 0.6%. Happy days are here again.

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This August American forces in Iraq are expected to drop from 160,000 to roughly 140,000 troops, and Iraqi forces are expected to fill the void.
Unfortunately the Iraqi Army suffers supply shortages, a lack of field grade officers, and urban warfare training gaps.
Following March clashes against Mahdi militiamen in Basra, British officers called the Iraqi Army’s […]

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When asked if the United States was in a recession, President George Bush replied, “Economists can argue over the terminology. The average person doesn’t really care what we call it.”
He then promptly blamed Congress for the current US economic woes.
Click here for Economic Outlook
Actually Mr. President, I care.

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According to documents subpoenaed under a harassment lawsuit filed by Acme Township treasurer Bill Boltres, retail chain Meijer violated Michigan law by contributing to two election campaigns focused on approval for one of it’s superstores in Acme Township.
Meijer hired Seyferth, Spaulding, Tennyson, a public relations firm, to write campaign literature, collect petitions, and wrote letters […]

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It’s been said the Government’s business is business. That “policy” has never been clearer than the government $29 billion bailout of Bear Sterns last month.
Last month Federal Reserve Bank of New York president Timothy Geithner told Congress, “A sudden disorderly failure of Bear would have brought with it unpredictable but severe consequences for the functioning […]

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In September 2007 the Defense Department said Iraq needed only 390,000 security forces, but as of March 2008 the number climbed to 573,000. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota found the increase “bizarre.”
Bizarre indeed, until you factor in the Iraqi Government’s practice of keeping dead, injured, or absent police officers on official payrolls. The Iraqi […]

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The Western Venture, a civilian ship under contract with the U.S. military, fired warning shots at two small boats in the Persian Gulf’s international waters. The small boats are believed to be Iranian. Al-Alam, Iran’s state-run television station, denied the boats involved are Iranian.
After the incident, oil prices rose sharply.
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