WTO warns US over protectionist sentiment

The Financial Times reports:

"The US needs to head off domestic protectionist sentiment that risks reducing the openness of the US economy and dampening growth," the World Trade Organisation warned on Wednesday.

In its latest report on US trade policies, written before the controversy over the sale of US port operations to a company based in the United Arab Emirates, the WTO secretariat says open US markets have helped fuel solid economic expansion by supporting a “continuous drive for change and efficiency”.

Death and Taxes

Check out this graphical representation of the U.S. budget on deviantart's website.

2004 Military Spending: 399 Billion
2004 Non-Military Spending: 383 Billion

Hanging out at Circuit City on the Weekends

Now here's an incredibly bizarre story:

Claude Allen's Mentor - Shoplifting and Bushonomics. By Jacob Weisberg

"Last week, Slate broke the news that Claude Allen, until recently the White House chief domestic-policy adviser, was arrested for theft in suburban Maryland. The president has expressed his shock and disappointment. How could one of his top appointees, a devout Christian who passed a series of FBI background checks, have been a common thief? But the more we hear about what Allen is accused of, the less it sounds like kleptomania and the more it sounds like an application of Bush economic policy.

"Allen's alleged scam was something called "refund fraud." According to the police in Montgomery County, he would purchase a home-theater system or a computer printer from a department store and put it in the trunk of his car. Then he would come back to the same store with his receipt, pull an identical item off the shelf, and take it to the return desk for a refund. Using this technique, a brazen perpetrator pays for the item once but derives value from it two times—he gets his money back and keeps the merch. Allen is alleged to have stolen more than $5,000 worth of merchandise over the past year in this way."

Cheney hunting mishap to be spoofed by hockey club

It has been a while since I posted something. Oops.

Enjoy the silence.

And maybe check this out from ESPN:

LAS VEGAS -- A minor league hockey team is spoofing Vice President Dick Cheney's recent hunting mishap with a plan to distribute bright orange hunting vests printed with the words, "Don't Shoot, I'm Human."

The Las Vegas Wranglers plan to distribute 1,000 vests to fans arriving for Friday's game as part of a promotion dubbed "Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night" at the Orleans Arena.

"It was sort of too juicy not to do," said Billy Johnson, Wranglers president and chief operating officer. "It's one of those events in pop culture."

He referred to Cheney accidentally wounding a hunting partner while quail hunting Feb. 11 on a Texas ranch.

Cheney's office in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.

The Wranglers, of the East Coast Hockey League, are scheduled to play the Alaska Aces on Friday. The 7,000-seat arena is at the Orleans hotel-casino.