Rock on.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Criminal Charges
I'll optimistically assume that they won't be filed, but the fact that it's even an issue is hideous.
...and, yes, this does highlight the fact that men and women are indeed a wee bit different.
HOUSTON (AP) -- A 14-year-old girl on a return flight from a middle-school trip delivered a stillborn fetus in the bathroom of an airplane and disposed of it in a waste bin, police said Monday.
The girl, whom police did not identify, said she didn't know she had been pregnant. Preliminary autopsy results indicated the fetus was stillborn and not viable, police said.
...
Police Sgt. Ryan Chandler said results of the investigation would be turned over to prosecutors ''to decide whether or not they're going to file any criminal charges.''
...and, yes, this does highlight the fact that men and women are indeed a wee bit different.
NYC Congestion Pricing
Approved by the City Council.
The key to its success - and popularity - will be whether it is REALLY REALLY EASY to actually pay the fee, with multiple methods of doing so. The system in London lets you do it by text message, cell phone, on the internet, and other ways.
People won't mind the fee so much as long as it isn't a giant pain in the ass to actually pay it. Perhaps someone could direct me, but I really haven't seen much coverage of what the payment mechanisms would be in New York.
The key to its success - and popularity - will be whether it is REALLY REALLY EASY to actually pay the fee, with multiple methods of doing so. The system in London lets you do it by text message, cell phone, on the internet, and other ways.
People won't mind the fee so much as long as it isn't a giant pain in the ass to actually pay it. Perhaps someone could direct me, but I really haven't seen much coverage of what the payment mechanisms would be in New York.
Even Slightly More Thought Out
Just a couple of responses to various comments in the post below. It's true I'm being sloppy and conflating "sex" and "gender." For those for whom it wasn't clear, the biological differences I'm referring to are primarily, though not entirely, the babymaking apparatus. The fact that women can have babies, and that babies are a consequence of an activity they might want to engage in even if they don't want to have babies, is a nontrivial difference between men and women which impacts their existences as individuals as well as their relationships with careers and society more broadly. I never suggested or claimed that all gender issues are limited to biology and are not socially constructed, but was just trying to say that even in some imagined utopia sex blindness wouldn't really be the point.
The Failed Clobama Presidency
You can read this Alterman article if only because he quotes me.
And then extending that quote a bit, just try to imagine a parallel universe in which a Democratic president had been stuck in the low 30s in the polls for 2 years. Imagine how they'd be treated in our media.
And then extending that quote a bit, just try to imagine a parallel universe in which a Democratic president had been stuck in the low 30s in the polls for 2 years. Imagine how they'd be treated in our media.
Not Helpful
It'd be nice if Democrats would stop legitimizing Fox, but this kind of thing is pretty typical from Rendell.
...what I mean is this is more of just Ed being Ed than some diabolical Clinton campaign strategy, though certainly they've had issues (often legitimate) with MSNBC.
...what I mean is this is more of just Ed being Ed than some diabolical Clinton campaign strategy, though certainly they've had issues (often legitimate) with MSNBC.
Slightly More Thought Out
I guess the point I was suggesting below is that while racism and perceptions of racial differences are rooted in bigotry and ignorance, gender differences are actually, you know, real. I'm not entering Larry Summers territory here, but important biological differences between men and women actually exist. And while we can dream of race blind utopia hundreds of years in the future when past injustices have been corrected and atoned for and enough procreative racial deconstruction has gone on to render much of it meaningless, a feminist utopia wouldn't be gender blind, at least not until we can all download ourselves into one of Glenn Reynolds' androids. An Obama victory would signal that we've gone another step towards the future race blind utopia, and it would be a tremendous thing for this country, but having a woman as president of the United States wouldn't simply signal an advancement in attitudes, but would actual be more of an advance in and of itself.
I'm not making a hierarchy of ills argument here - misogyny worse than racism! - I'm arguing that racism is more about correcting our perceptions of difference, while gender issues are about creating a society where men and women, despite their differences, are on equal footing. And because of that, a female president might be more of an advance.
Or not.
Flame on!
...adding that (should be) needless to say there are lots of other reasons one might consider when choosing a candidate.
I'm not making a hierarchy of ills argument here - misogyny worse than racism! - I'm arguing that racism is more about correcting our perceptions of difference, while gender issues are about creating a society where men and women, despite their differences, are on equal footing. And because of that, a female president might be more of an advance.
Or not.
Flame on!
...adding that (should be) needless to say there are lots of other reasons one might consider when choosing a candidate.
Gender and Race
I get a bit puzzled when people are annoyed by the idea that women might vote for Clinton, in part, because she's a woman. I think a couple of people have taken to the op-ed pages and taken the argument too far, arguing that feminism almost requires women to vote for her. But one cannot deny that having a woman become president would be a tremendous advance for feminism, and perhaps more than an African-American president would represent an advance for the cause of racial justice (this is not well thought out, so discuss!).
And, anyway, it can't be said enough that white men have been voting for one of their own for generations.
And, anyway, it can't be said enough that white men have been voting for one of their own for generations.
Mophobia
I have the opposite problem. Fear of being in cell phone range, fear of getting phone calls, fear of voice mail, fear of having to call someone.
Okay, not fear exactly, more like dread. I hate the phone. Viva email!
Okay, not fear exactly, more like dread. I hate the phone. Viva email!
Cotton Pickin'
I'm actually happy to put "cotton ..." in the "stupid ass shit that comes out of your mouth on the teevee sometimes" category, but the rest of what Dobbs said is really what's offensive. He's teeing off on the fact that Rice actually suggested that maybe this country, as it was founded, was a bit problematic with respect to race and then goes on to complain that black people are always telling him what he can and can't say.
Opportunites
This sort of sentiment is actually pretty typical.
Basically, if anyone from a poor background manages to succeed in some endeavor such as baseball, and go from being poor to rich, then its proof that such backgrounds aren't barriers to success. More than that, those who fail to become professional baseball players are just losers.
Lots of people in this country are basically born on 2nd and 3rd base and then manage to stay there for the rest of their lives. And many of them look down on those who start at home plate and fail to hit a home run.
As part of its plan to ruin everything good and decent, ESPN let George W. Bush into the booth during the Braves-Nationals game tonight, where he proceeded to inform us of the great opportunities playing professional baseball offers inner-city youth.
Basically, if anyone from a poor background manages to succeed in some endeavor such as baseball, and go from being poor to rich, then its proof that such backgrounds aren't barriers to success. More than that, those who fail to become professional baseball players are just losers.
Lots of people in this country are basically born on 2nd and 3rd base and then manage to stay there for the rest of their lives. And many of them look down on those who start at home plate and fail to hit a home run.
Not Cheap
That's a high rate.
NEW YORK -
Thornburg Mortgage Inc. obtained an extension through Monday to raise $948 million to appease its financial backers, the lender said over the weekend.
...
A bond sale arranged to raise money at a 12 percent interest rate failed, and now the company is trying to sell $1.35 billion in bonds at an 18 percent interest rate.
This extension is the second for the bond sale.
Cuba
It seems Raul Castro is making steps to get rid of the 3-tiered economy in Cuba. Basically for some time Cuba's economy has been split into 3. There was one economy for most of the citizens, based around unconvertible pesos from government set monthly salary. There has been the convertible peso economy, for Cubans who either had access to family money from abroad or who worked in tourist-related industries. And then on top of that was a dollar economy, for tourists. Aside from the money separation, there were restrictions on what most Cubans could do which prevented them from going into certain stores, staying in tourist hotels, riding some taxis, etc.
Simply lifting these restrictions isn't going to change the fact that most Cubans are very poor, but they were nonetheless a rather ugly feature of the place, making Cubans second class citizens in their own country.
Simply lifting these restrictions isn't going to change the fact that most Cubans are very poor, but they were nonetheless a rather ugly feature of the place, making Cubans second class citizens in their own country.
Middle Class
It's true that given Manhattan's extremely high housing and other costs, "middle class" people are going to make a bit more money than they do in other places. But it's kind of weird how the WaPo quickly slips between "middle class" to "affluent" in describing this group of people.
Ultimately, though, the article isn't so much about class as it is about race. It's about white people. Which makes it quite a bit weirder.
Once upon a time, Manhattan was an island of adult thrills and vices. In the national imagination, it was a place of artists, musicians, socialites, Wall Street bankers -- or of hustlers, runaways, addicts, murderers. But it was not on the radar of the typical white, middle-class couple as a place to raise children.
Now demographers say Manhattan is increasingly a borough of babies, and more and more of them are white and well-off.
...
Indeed, according to Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College, the median household income for this group of children was $280,000 in 2005.
In a reversal of a decades-long trend of flight to the suburbs, affluent couples are deciding to stay, at a time when crime is low, some schools have improved and urban life has a new allure, said Kenneth T. Jackson, a professor of urban history at Columbia University.
Ultimately, though, the article isn't so much about class as it is about race. It's about white people. Which makes it quite a bit weirder.
Philly Style
Bye Alphonso.
WASHINGTON -- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is expected to announce his resignation Monday, according to people familiar with the matter, a decision that will deal a blow to the Bush administration's efforts to tackle the housing crisis.
...
Mr. Jackson's most-recent problems stem from a Philadelphia redevelopment deal. The city's housing authority has filed a lawsuit charging that Mr. Jackson tried to punish the agency for blocking a deal involving a friend of his. The allegations came up during congressional hearings this month. Mr. Jackson declined to answer questions, saying the judge in the lawsuit had instructed the department not to talk.
HUD has argued it wants to change the housing authority's special funding status because it lacks enough housing for the disabled.
In 2006, HUD's inspector general investigated remarks made by Mr. Jackson that some interpreted to mean that contracts were awarded in some cases based on political affiliation. The report didn't find any wrongdoing at the agency.
"Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president?" Mr. Jackson was quoted as saying in the Dallas Business Journal. "Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Life is Beautiful
Not the Onion.
Max Mosley, one of the most powerful men in world sport, was under pressure to resign as boss of Formula One’s governing body last night after he was exposed enjoying a Nazi-style orgy with five prostitutes.
Jewish groups condemned the behaviour of Mosley, 67, whose father, Sir Oswald, was the leader of the British Union of Fascists and a friend of Adolf Hitler.
Mr Mosley was caught on video by the News of the World with five women in an underground “torture chamber” in Chelsea, where he spent several hours allegedly indulging in sado-masochistic sex.
The Oxford-educated former barrister, who is president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), reenacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate.
We Hates Them
So I'm pretty much exhausted after this weekend and it isn't just because I had to stay up late babysitting Ntoddler every night. While I do wake up at roughly the same time every day - except when one of the cats decides that puking on the bed in the middle of the night is a good idea - at not an obscenely late hour (though not especially early) as my morning post time stamps can prove, it's been quite some time since an alarm clock has been a part of my regular routine. So when I do have to set one, I spend the night worrying that I've set it incorrectly, that it won't go off, that I won't get up on time, etc...
tired.
tired.
Iraq'd
I assume this is excellent news for Rudy Giuliani.
- BAGHDAD, March 30 -- Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Sunday ordered his armed militia to get off the streets in Basra and to cooperate with the government to restore security. In exchange, he asked the government to release prisoners and declare an amnesty.
The Iraqi government quickly welcomed the comments as a move toward restoring calm.
All Done
The stench of patchouli is fading, being replaced by Philadelphia's usual delightful odors.
Eschacon: The Final Chapter
Aside from all of the times I got to hear my own voice, probably the most interesting bit came from Scott Horton. The Siegelman story should get bigger, the Justice Department's Inspector General will release a real report about the attorney scandals, and all roads lead to Karl Rove...
Sitting in a coffee shop around the corner from where the final brunch will be in about an hour. Then I can kick all you dirty hippies out of my city!
Sitting in a coffee shop around the corner from where the final brunch will be in about an hour. Then I can kick all you dirty hippies out of my city!
Sunday Bobbleheads
Document the atrocities.
Meet the Press hosts CIA dir. Michael Hayden and a roundtable with New York Times' David Brooks and New Republic's Peter Beinart.
Face the Nation hosts NM Gov. Bill Richardson (D), Philly Mayor Mike Nutter, Dem strategist Joe Trippi and Slate's John Dickerson.
This Week hosts PA Gov. Ed Rendell (D), and Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT).
Fox News Sunday hosts Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Jack Reed (D-RI) and the power player is Washington Nat'ls pres. Stan Kasten.
Late Edition hosts ex-State Dept. adviser Aaron Miller, NBC's Martin Fletcher, Chilean Amb. Heraldo Munoz, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Dem strategist James Carville, and a roundtable with CNN's Dana Bash, CNN's Ed Henry, and CNN's Jeffrey Toobin.
Such An Awesome War
Nobody could have predicted...
Iraq's new army is "developing steadily," with "strong Iraqi leaders out front," the chief U.S. trainer said.
That was three-plus years ago, and the trainer was David H. Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq. Some of those Iraqi officials at the time were busy embezzling more than $1 billion allotted for the new army's weapons, according to investigators.
...
Nationwide security: In the latest shift, the Pentagon's new quarterly status report quietly drops any prediction of when local units will take over security responsibility for Iraq. Last year's reports had forecast a transition in 2008.
Bush's prediction: In January 2007, President Bush said Iraqi forces would take charge in all 18 Iraqi provinces by November. Four months past that deadline, they control nine provinces and none of the most volatile ones.
Cost: At least $22 billion has been spent to train an Iraqi military with narrow capabilities, critics and outside experts say.
Pentagon's view: Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the current trainer, said his team has made "huge progress in many areas, quality and quantity." Still, "we're not free of difficulties," he said, citing as an example a critical shortage of midlevel Iraqi officers that will take years to close.
Iraqi view: Dubik says Iraqi defense officials don't expect to take over internal security until as late as 2012 and won't be able to defend Iraq's borders until 2018.
Morning Thread
I admit, I'm pretty proud of the very cool things that happened here yesterday--can't wait to get home and read all the threads through. But it wouldn't have happened without my team of goddesses, including ql, res ipsa loquitur, watertiger, and the irrepressible V4V. Damn, what a weekend.(Above: proof positive that I am not the worst parent in the world--there are others too. The 8YO made a fast friend.)
--Molly I.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Economists!
Spork's photo.
UPDATE: Will Bunch has a good conference rundown up, more coming. His commenters are also providing valuable insight: "Liberal bloggers are little Sally boys, who cry everytime Barbara Steisand sings..." Oh yes. Though Babs is no Glenn Danzig, I tell you what...
Nouri al-Bush
"Peoples" are conventioning so...
Nobody anticipating goes across cultures:
Nobody anticipating goes across cultures:
It appears that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's ultimatum to Shiite Muslim militiamen to surrender to the Iraqi government might not be working precisely as he had intended.
When nobody had turned up by Friday, Maliki gave members of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia 10 more days to turn in their weapons and renounce violence.
Instead, about 40 members of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi army and National Police offered to surrender their AK-47s and other weapons this morning to Sadr's representatives in the cleric's east Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
Shame
Joe Galloway:
Shame on them, and shame on us, for such callous indifference to the service, sacrifice and suffering of the families of the dead, wounded and injured troops who've given so much for so little in return.
Vice President Cheney again stuck both feet in his mouth by saying and then repeating that we should remember that our military is composed entirely of volunteers; that our troops all volunteered for this duty, this burden, this sacrifice.
What's your point, Mr. Vice President? That because they volunteered to serve our country in uniform it’s okay to squander their lives in a war of choice, your choice and your president’s, and that it somehow matters less than if they'd been dragooned into service by press gangs or a draft like the one you dodged with five deferments during the Vietnam War because, you said, you had “better things to do”?
Friday, March 28, 2008
City and Suburb And Everywhere Else
I agree that it'd be good to have someone with some clue about urban issues, and not just for the sake of cities. A lot of city stuff is really everywhere stuff but it just becomes acutely obvious in densely populated urban areas, while elsewhere development just seems like a force of nature that rolls on through. In the city it's easier to grasp how policy matters, though of course it matters everywhere.
Silly Media Matters
I know I shouldn't disagree with the mothership, but they're operating under this delusion that money spent on war should actually count or something.
If It's Friday...
There must be some scandal.
Wonder what this is about.
...
WASHINGTON - The White House says a presidential aide has resigned after engaging in improprities using USAID grant money.
Wonder what this is about.
...
His previous employer was the Center for a Free Cuba, which describes itself as an independent, nonpartisan institution dedicated to promoting human rights and a transition to democracy and the rule of law in Cuba.
"Mr. Sixto allegedly had a conflict of interest with the use of U.S. AID funds by his former employer," Stanzel said. He said he did not know how much money was involved or the particulars of the allegations.
Bad Traffic
Drive in early to Eschacon.
The arenas are way south of center city, but there could be a lot of traffic on the major highways/bridges leading into the city.
Tonight the roads around the South Philadelphia sports complex are likely to get jammed with fans heading to three games simultaneously.
The arenas are way south of center city, but there could be a lot of traffic on the major highways/bridges leading into the city.
Blaming Iraqis
Sadly, it isn't just Rice who does this. Plenty of Democrats do too. Certainly I wish Iraqis were less inclined to kill each other, but when people who don't really believe in the institutions of modern democracies invade another country without any plan for establishing those institutions we shouldn't be too surprised when the ponies don't appear.
Forcing the Conversation
This is good.
Democrats will only win on national security when people know where they stand. The message that low information voters need to hear is that Democrats want to get out of Iraq, and Huggy Bear and the Republicans want to stay there forever.
More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to promise that, if elected, they will push for legislation calling for an immediate drawdown of troops in Iraq that would leave only a security force in place to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Democrats will only win on national security when people know where they stand. The message that low information voters need to hear is that Democrats want to get out of Iraq, and Huggy Bear and the Republicans want to stay there forever.
Deep Thought
Given its target audience, it's appropriate that Mark Halperin's "The Page" is written in crayon.
Eschacon '08: The Final Conflict
For those who don't want to drink with a bunch of DFHs, or sit around all day Saturday listening to said DFHs babble on about stuff, you can still just show up Saturday night for some great entertainment. Whiskey Ina, Filkertom, The Rude Pundit, and Hamell on Trial will be there to entertain you. I saw The Rude Pundit's show a few years ago, and it was really good, and Hamell on Trial is also awesome (with apologies to the first two who I haven't seen).
Here's Hamell.
Here's Hamell.
Extra Innings
And on and on.
Iraq's government has extended by 10 days a deadline for Shia militiamen fighting troops in the southern city of Basra to hand over their weapons.
More than 130 people have been killed and 350 injured since a clampdown on militias began in Basra on Tuesday.
US-led forces joined the battle for the first time overnight, bombing Shia positions, the UK military said.
Iraq's parliament is set for emergency talks on the crisis, which has also brought a three-day curfew in Baghdad.
A statement from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office read: "All those who have heavy and intermediate weapons are to deliver them to security sites and they will be rewarded financially. This will start from March 28 to April 8."
Sage
Thers:
Sullivan, Feb. 12:
Sullivan, March 7.
I bet it never would have even occurred to you that John McCain might just be the candidate who is going to get us out of Iraq "swiftly." You clearly lack Andrew Sullivan's amazing insight. This is exactly why you'll never be invited onto Bill Maher to fondle your ass on national television.
Sullivan, Feb. 12:
However we withdraw from Iraq - and McCain wants us to withdraw as much as Obama - al Qaeda will say it's a victory for them.
Sullivan, March 7.
And Clinton will swiftly realize that the most potent antidote to conservative criticism of her at home will be buttressing her military image, working the Thatcher thing, constructing an Iron Lady persona that will both appeal to her white ethnic base and keep the Republicans at bay. She will no more withdraw troops from Iraq than John McCain will.
Choosing Sides In A Civil War
While it isn't exactly entirely a new thing, it's a bit more stark now.
Both sides in this struggle are essentially militias. Both sides have ties to Iran. And as for protecting "the Iraqi people," the side backed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (and by U.S. air power) has, ironically, less support—at least in many Shiite areas, including Basra—than the side that he (and we) are attacking.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Positive Moment
You get the sense that Bush and Cheney told Maliki that he had to "kill all the bad guys" and so Maliki said, "Sure, I'll go kill all the bad guys." Because, you know, as long as Maliki has enough "will" and "resolve" he should be able to do that.
BAGHDAD — American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias from the southern city of Basra on Thursday, even as President Bush hailed the operation as a sign of the growing strength of Iraq’s federal government.
The fighting in Basra with the Mahdi Army, the armed wing of the political movement led by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, set off violent clashes in cities throughout the country and major demonstrations in Sadr City, the huge Baghdad slum that is Mr. Sadr’s base of power, and other Shiite neighborhoods in the capital.
Although Mr. Bush praised the Iraqi government for leading the fighting, it also appeared that the Iraqi government was pursuing its own agenda, calling the battles a fight against “criminal” elements but seeking to marginalize the Mahdi Army. The Americans share the Iraqi government’s hostility toward what they call rogue elements of the Mahdi Army but will also be faced with the consequences if the battles erupt into more widespread unrest.
Fresh Thread
Off to go tell Patrick Murphy how he's supposed to vote on every piece of legislation. And he'll listen or HULK WILL SMASH!!
The Eschacon Hotel Subway Stop
No this isn't normal.
Sean Patrick Conroy, the 36-year-old Starbucks manager who was attacked in a Center City subway yesterday, died of an "asthma attack brought on by blunt force trauma," the medical examiner ruled today.
His death was ruled a homicide, said Jeff Moran, a spokesman for the medical examiner.
Police today are intently searching for three of four Simon Gratz High School students who skipped classes Wednesday and ambushed Conroy on a subway concourse in the heart of Center City. The man died less than an hour after the attack.
A 16-year-old 10th grader at the Nicetown high school who was arrested after the incident told police the four youths had chosen Sean Patrick Conroy at random and attacked him for kicks, with no motive of robbery, police said. The District Attorney has not yet filed charges against the youth. Police said they are waiting for the medical examiner to determine a cause of death before recommending charges.
How'd That Happen
Just what is going on.
Col. Abbas al-Tamimi, media officer for the 14th Iraqi Army Division operating in the city, said he expected the fighting to escalate. “The gunmen have heavier and more sophisticated weapons than we have,” he said.
Iraq'd
Always difficult to know if reporting about Iraq is painting an accurate and relatively complete picture of what's going on, but in any case this Times of London story isn't very encouraging.
Not Lou Dobbs
Probably the biggest thing I've gotten wrong over the past few years was thinking that immigration would be the winning issue for the GOP. It just isn't.
Meanwhile
More positive moments.*
*This is called sarcasm, trolls.
- BREAKING NEWS: American killed in rocket or mortar attack on Baghdad's Green Zone, U.S. Embassy says
*This is called sarcasm, trolls.
How Will They Tally The Votes?
I suppose other states have dealt with similar, but I'm curious about how the primary vote in PA will be mapped to some popular vote count. I've seen an absentee ballot, and here in Philadelphia we vote directly for a number of delegates, up to 9, which are linked to a candidate. There are 9 Obama delegates on the ballot, and 7 Clinton ones.
Late Night
For once our local transit authority isn't completely broke and they can therefore contemplate service improvements.
Last train out is at 12:15 for the R5 on weekends, which really isn't helpful for people from the burbs who like to come in for some city fun. It cuts it a bit close for kids who might want to come into town for shows. And aside from the potential to reduce drunk driving a bit, I'm a big believer in the idea that public transit is something that people have to get used to taking, and if you give them an excuse to try it a few times they'll keep using it.
Among the proposals are late night Friday and Saturday regional rail service on the R5 Paoli/Thorndale line, the R6 Norristown line and R7 Trenton line, which would run an hour to two hours later than current weekend service.
Last train out is at 12:15 for the R5 on weekends, which really isn't helpful for people from the burbs who like to come in for some city fun. It cuts it a bit close for kids who might want to come into town for shows. And aside from the potential to reduce drunk driving a bit, I'm a big believer in the idea that public transit is something that people have to get used to taking, and if you give them an excuse to try it a few times they'll keep using it.
Everybody Hearts Bush
Apparently he has a "has a personal (as opposed to job performance) approval rating of better than 50 percent."
Going to the latest polls...
NBC: Very Positive+Somewhat Positive=33%
Newsweek: 33%
Pew: Very Favorable+Mostly Favorable=35%
Fox: 35%
Diageo/Hotline: 38%
Going to the latest polls...
NBC: Very Positive+Somewhat Positive=33%
Newsweek: 33%
Pew: Very Favorable+Mostly Favorable=35%
Fox: 35%
Diageo/Hotline: 38%
Disturbing
Bush is on the teevee. It's actually quite scary. Apparently al Qaeda is in Mosul now. Or something.
Bush was never a gifted orator, but now neither he nor his speechwriters are even trying anymore. And he really does slur his words.
...I sorta remember when the armed vigilante groups we like were rebranded from "awakening councils" to "sons of Iraq," but I don't remember anyone commenting that it's really rather unfortunate to have such a gendered name. They aren't just vigilante groups, of course, they're political organizations, and apparently no daughters are allowed.
...normalcy is returning to Iraq. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Bush was never a gifted orator, but now neither he nor his speechwriters are even trying anymore. And he really does slur his words.
...I sorta remember when the armed vigilante groups we like were rebranded from "awakening councils" to "sons of Iraq," but I don't remember anyone commenting that it's really rather unfortunate to have such a gendered name. They aren't just vigilante groups, of course, they're political organizations, and apparently no daughters are allowed.
...normalcy is returning to Iraq. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
More Liquid
For those who think 7pm is a little late to begin having liquid refreshments, the unofficial Eschacon '08 preparty will be at the Khyber.
Here's a map showing Lucy's Hat Shop (A) and the Khyber (B). Both are conveniently located near the 2nd st. subway stop. Both are about a 20+ minute walk from the hotel.
...probably a $6.00 cab ride to/from hotel (or less).
Here's a map showing Lucy's Hat Shop (A) and the Khyber (B). Both are conveniently located near the 2nd st. subway stop. Both are about a 20+ minute walk from the hotel.
...probably a $6.00 cab ride to/from hotel (or less).
Last Chance Foreclosure Opportunity
You read stuff like this and you realize that banks were just doing insane things over the past few years. $600,000 in HELOCs and a million+ option ARM refinancing? WTF?!
More Success
So successful.
One of southern Iraq's two main oil export pipelines has been severely damaged in a bomb attack, officials said today.
The bombing of the pipeline, seven miles south of Basra, came as clashes between Iraqi security forces and Shia fighters in the port city entered a third day.
"This morning, saboteurs blew up the pipeline transporting crude from [the] Zubair 1 [oil plant] by placing bombs beneath it," an oil company official said.
"Crude exports will be greatly affected because this is one of two main pipelines transporting crude to the southern terminals. We will lose about a third of crude exported through Basra."
Sorry About the Weather
Looks like we'll have some rain tomorrow, and then Saturday and Sunday will be clear but a bit chilly.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Meanwhile
Over there.
BAGHDAD — U.S. aircraft supporting an Iraqi government offensive against Shiite Muslim militias bombed suspected militia positions south of Baghdad amid intense fighting Wednesday in parts of the Iraqi capital and in the southern port city of Basra, Iraqi police said.
Spokesman Muthanna Ahmed of the Babil province police said 60 people had been hit but that he couldn't give a breakdown of dead and wounded. The U.S. military was looking into the report but couldn't confirm it Wednesday evening.
Success
And the war is over, and the dead are all living.
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday said an eruption of violence in southern Iraq, where US-backed government forces were battling Shiite militias, was a "by-product of the success of the surge."
Meanwhile
Over there.
More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the fighting, centered on the southern oil hub of Basra and spreading to Shi'ite parts of Baghdad where Sadr's followers hold sway and the towns of Hilla, Kut and Diwaniya in the south.
Ruh-Roh
Reuters:
Bond insurer FGIC Corp said on Wednesday that its exposure to mortgage losses exceeded legal risk limits and it may raise loss reserves due to litigation related to stricken German bank IKB.
FGIC, the parent of bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co, earlier this month filed a lawsuit accusing German state-owned IKBof fraud in providing incomplete information on $1.9 billion of debt that FGIC agreed to insure.
FGIC in a statement also said it has a substantially reduced capital and surplus position through December 31. As a result, insured exposures exceeded risk limits required by New York state insurance law, the New York-based company said.
"This is a bombshell," said Rob Haines, senior insurance analyst at CreditSights in New York. "They are actually in violation of New York insurance law. If they don't remediate this, the state has the ability to take control of the company."
McCain Recycles Speech
It was good enough in 2001, so it's good enough in 2008. Because things are exactly the same now!!
TO SET
Giant sign on my corner, with an arrow. It seems they're filming a movie. Probably Rocky XV.
...ah, must be this.
...yep, saw Lauren Graham as I was walking home from lunch.
...ah, must be this.
...yep, saw Lauren Graham as I was walking home from lunch.
Ruptured
Glennzilla has a fascinating excerpt of unscripted interviews with Iraqis by Peter Jennings as the Iraq war was unfolding.
I'll just add that there are many things left out of our discourse about Iraq, including the perspectives of actual Iraqis.
I'll just add that there are many things left out of our discourse about Iraq, including the perspectives of actual Iraqis.
Iraq'd
Ackerman:
And another option would be to... stop being the sponsor.
Now, some Iraq-watcher friends of mine point out that this is absurd. "Sadr is, of course, a thug," they say, "but he's a nationalist. And he's far less beholden to Iran than the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq or Maliki's Da'wa Party -- both of whom we're supporting! And most importantly, Sadr remains perhaps the most popular figure in Shiite Iraq. Petraeus can do business with him. This doesn't make any sense!" And they're right. It doesn't. But as long as we sponsor the Iraqi political process -- and a Sadrist doesn't actually become premier himself -- this will keep happening.
And another option would be to... stop being the sponsor.
Shock Poll
Drudge is pushing a poll which apparently has the shocking result that 22% of Dems want Obama out and 22% of them want Clinton out.
Shocking!
Shocking!
New Home Sales
Still flat. (.pdf)
Sales of new one-family houses in February 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 1.8 percent (±15.0%)* below the revised January rate of 601,000 and is 29.8 percent (±9.6%) below the February 2007 estimate of 840,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2008 was $244,100; the average sales price was $296,400. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 471,000. This represents a supply of 9.8 months at the current sales rate.
Ruh-Roh
Durable goods orders decline again.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in February decreased $3.6 billion or 1.7 percent to $210.6 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the second consecutive monthly decrease and followed a 4.7 percent January decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 2.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 1.6 percent.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Deep Thought
Remember back in junior high, when you had that friend that the bullies picked on all the time? And you defended that friend, who really never did all that much for you, which led to you getting your ass kicked a few times yourself? And then you got to high school and your friend joined up with the bullies? It's kind of like that.
...just make it stop.
...just make it stop.
Thanks Chuck
Chuck Norris doesn't like this organization which is working to eliminate violence directed against gay and lesbian kids in schools. Violence that includes murder.
Check GLSEN out and tell 'em Chuck Norris sent you, that great big orange-headed palooka.
Check GLSEN out and tell 'em Chuck Norris sent you, that great big orange-headed palooka.
New Orders
And on and on...
"The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans," said one Mahdi Army militiaman, who was reached by telephone in Sadr City. This same man, when interviewed in January, had stated that he was abiding by the cease-fire and that he was keeping busy running his cellular phone store.
Simple Answers to Simple Questions
MSNBC Chyron asks:
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
Is McCain Getting A Free Ride?
This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
War On
Sigh.
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Moqtada al-Sadr's militiamen battled troops in four Iraqi cities on Tuesday, including the capital, as the hardline Shiite cleric threatened a countrywide campaign of civil revolt.
Heavy clashes broke out between Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters in the southern oil city of Basra, killing at least seven people and wounding 48, and in Kut and Hilla, both south of Baghdad, officials said.
As evening fell, Mahdi Army fighters fought with Iraqi and US forces in their Sadr City bastion in eastern Baghdad for the first time since last October, a security official and witnesses told AFP.
Troops had surrounded the sprawling impoverished neighbourhood of two million people and armed Shiite fighters were roaming the streets, a witness said.
Chris Matthews' New Favorite Phrase
Just a prediction, but I think he'll like this one. Be warned, Clinton supporters.
Eschacon 08: The Eschaconing
See what all the squares are missing and what all the cool kids will be doing.
That Time Of Year Already?
Social Security trustees report comes out today. Get prepared for usual round of IT'S GOING BANKRUPT AND WE'LL HAVE TO CUT THEIR BENEFITS UNLESS WE CUT THEIR BENEFITS.
...and here it is. Quick glance says no substantial change from last year's projections. On to dig through and see what's up with the assumptions...
...and here it is. Quick glance says no substantial change from last year's projections. On to dig through and see what's up with the assumptions...
Patrick Murphy Fundraiser
For local folks or those arriving early to Eschacon, Murphy's having a fundraiser on Thursday, 6-7:30 at Black Sheep Tavern at 247 S. 17th St. Suggested contribution is $100, $25 for students. RSVP sara@murphy08.com if you wish.
Iraq 4Evah!
And on and on.
WASHINGTON — Troop levels in Iraq would remain nearly the same through 2008 as they have been through most of the five years of war there, under plans presented to President Bush on Monday by the senior American commander and the top American diplomat in Iraq, senior administration and military officials said.
Mr. Bush announced no final decision on future troop levels after the video briefing by the commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, and the diplomat, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. The briefing took place on the day when the 4,000th American military death of the war was reported and just after the invasion’s fifth anniversary.
But it now appears likely that any decision on major reductions in American troops from Iraq will be left to the next president. That ensures that the question over what comes next will remain in the center of the presidential campaign through Election Day.
Free Ride
"The press loves McCain. We're his base." - Chris Matthews
I read the draft of this book some months ago and it's really quite good. While we all have a general sense of the degree to which the national press will bend over backwards to excuse anything St. McCain does, Free Ride documents this history with horrifying but entertaining detail. More than that, it shows how at odds the national media, who worship Saint McCain, are with the local media in Arizona, who know a bit more a bit the real senator.
The site will be rolling out the top myths about McCain. Here's #1:
Perhaps no word has been used to describe John McCain more often than "maverick." In January and February of 2008 alone, McCain was called a "maverick" more than 1,300 times in newspapers and on television. And those who use the label to describe McCain rarely explain just what he has done to earn it. But a closer examination of his record shows that McCain isn't quite the maverick that he is made out to be. The truth is that McCain's breaks from the Republican Party line are few and far between. According to Congressional Quarterly's "party unity" ratings, since he came to the Senate in 1989, there have been only three years in which McCain voted with his party less than 80 percent of the time. When he has gone against the party line -- such as on campaign finance reform, global warming, or tobacco regulations -- McCain has taken a position that was overwhelmingly popular with the public, meaning that when he takes a "maverick" stance, he's gaining support with the public -- and hardly taking a political risk.
Just as important, McCain's acts of independence aren't so much on high-profile issues as they are on issues that the press makes high-profile, precisely because of McCain's involvement. In all these cases, something important happens in the media when McCain opposes his party. When an ordinary senator crosses party lines, he or she will join members of the other party and perhaps have occasional opportunities to be quoted or interviewed on the issue in question. When McCain crosses party lines, on the other hand, the story the news media write undergoes a shift: It then becomes a story not about a conflict between Democrats and Republicans, but a story about John McCain and his rebellion. This is why McCain is perceived to be much more of a maverick than Republicans such as Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, who actually break with the GOP far more often. Yet journalists continue over and over to call McCain a "maverick," seldom questioning whether there might be more to the story.
Even more than other campaigns, this presidential race will pit the Democrat against McCain and his "base," the mainstream media. Combatting and shaming the media into covering McCain and his past accurately will be the job all of us have. Buy the book!
Not So Confident
Ruh-roh.
U.S. consumer confidence took an unexpectedly sharp fall in March, hitting a five-year low while expectations for the future tumbled to their lowest since January 1974, the Conference Board said Tuesday.
The Conference Board said its index of consumer sentiment fell in March to 64.5 -- its lowest since March 2003 -- from an upwardly revised 76.4 in February.
Dreaming of Ponies
Like the rest of them, Packer is just upset that no one will find his pony in Iraq. Because it's about him, you see.
Modern Worries
Lovely.
One of the people he helped was Paige Carey, the parent of a senior at Coatesville Area High School. She was carrying 13 new registration forms, and had worked hard to convince her daughter's teenage friends that registering to vote would not somehow get them drafted into the military.
"I really had to ease their fears," she said.
Carshare Wars
Competition heats up.
Zipcar membership does offer one benefit in that it can be used in other cities, but it's difficult to see how they could really beat PhillyCarShare.
Zipcar, which bought Seattle-based Flexcar last fall, is bidding to replace PhillyCarShare Inc. as car-share supplier to the City of Philadelphia, said Robert Fox, head of the city Office of Fleet Management.
Zipcar plans to convert its local 110-vehicle fleet to the Zipcar brand today. It is offering promotional pricing, including $6 an hour for a hybrid Toyota Prius, with free gas, miles and insurance. That compares with PhillyCarShare's weekday rate of $3.90 plus 9 cents a mile, and a free hour per month.
"They're trying to follow our lead in discounting hybrids," said Clayton Lane, deputy executive director at PhillyCarShare. "Because we're not trying to provide a financial profit, we can provide a lower price and invest more in our cars and systems."
PhillyCarShare said it earned a 10 percent surplus from its $10 million in sales last year, when it served 35,000 customers, up from 6,000 the year before. That money went back into the business for faster computer systems and a better variety of cars, Lane said.
Zipcar membership does offer one benefit in that it can be used in other cities, but it's difficult to see how they could really beat PhillyCarShare.
Wrong Road
I agree with Tanta. The Fed needs to make sure people know it's out of the business of arranging fire sales.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Political Gawker
Spotted Ed Rendell getting into a car outside the Park Hyatt Bellevue. Also spotted his poor aide drop a bunch of folders and papers all over the ground.
Deep Thought
Your decision to support your candidate demonstrates a profound degree of ignorance and obvious mental instability.
Ware
I didn't see the moments referenced here, but Michael Ware has long been an interesting figure. His reporting tends to convey the fuckupedness of the situation a bit more clearly than that of many others, but he also strongly sees that fuckupedness as a reason the US needs to stay in Iraq.
So, 15 months from January '09 is too soon a time to withdraw. That brings us to April of 2010, two years from now and seven years after the war started.
And on and on.
So, 15 months from January '09 is too soon a time to withdraw. That brings us to April of 2010, two years from now and seven years after the war started.
And on and on.
Secret Obama Supporter
Just engaging the debate in the thread below, if people want to imagine that I don't really care. I've long said that if I ever felt like a candidate supporter I'd say so, but I just don't. I don't wake up in the morning hoping for bad news for the Clinton campaign, or thinking about ways to put the worst spin on things for them. I don't cheer when polls swing Obama's way, except to the extent that I think he's being knocked down by really stupid things (and the same goes for the Clinton campaign). By that I mean I don't like when either candidate gets stupid media treatment, and am therefore happy if stupid media treatment du jour doesn't negatively impact them.
I've said I tend to lean Obama more often than I lean Clinton, and that's increasingly true when the campaign insults my intelligence on a regular basis. Longtime readers of this blog should understand pretty well why Hillary Clinton isn't an obviously perfect fit for me, but longtime readers should also know why Obama isn't one either. I've been rather critical of the senator from Illinois many times.
The distance between the two candidates on most issues isn't very large, so ultimately it comes down to making a decision based on very subjective judgments about largely unknowable things. I appreciate that many people have made their personal determinations and latched on strongly to a candidate. Personally I don't really feel like the knowns push me strongly to either candidate. The unknowns push me a bit towards Obama, but the unknowns are unknown and I don't believe I have some grand insight into them that others lack.
There are people who seem to think that unless I'm balancing my criticism - one post slagging Obama, one post slagging Clinton - then I'm secretly using my platform as a way of pushing one candidate over another. Frankly I don't think there's anything I could really do to impact this race at the moment in a meaningful way (if there ever was), but if I did I don't think I'd choose that route to do it.
And screw all of you haters for mocking the Gravelmentum.
...adding, there are times when I've rooted for Obama because I want this thing to be over. Clinton can stay in the campaign as long as she likes, but I do wish she'd have focused her fire on McCain, instead of arguing that he's so awesome that Obama couldn't beat him.
I've said I tend to lean Obama more often than I lean Clinton, and that's increasingly true when the campaign insults my intelligence on a regular basis. Longtime readers of this blog should understand pretty well why Hillary Clinton isn't an obviously perfect fit for me, but longtime readers should also know why Obama isn't one either. I've been rather critical of the senator from Illinois many times.
The distance between the two candidates on most issues isn't very large, so ultimately it comes down to making a decision based on very subjective judgments about largely unknowable things. I appreciate that many people have made their personal determinations and latched on strongly to a candidate. Personally I don't really feel like the knowns push me strongly to either candidate. The unknowns push me a bit towards Obama, but the unknowns are unknown and I don't believe I have some grand insight into them that others lack.
There are people who seem to think that unless I'm balancing my criticism - one post slagging Obama, one post slagging Clinton - then I'm secretly using my platform as a way of pushing one candidate over another. Frankly I don't think there's anything I could really do to impact this race at the moment in a meaningful way (if there ever was), but if I did I don't think I'd choose that route to do it.
And screw all of you haters for mocking the Gravelmentum.
...adding, there are times when I've rooted for Obama because I want this thing to be over. Clinton can stay in the campaign as long as she likes, but I do wish she'd have focused her fire on McCain, instead of arguing that he's so awesome that Obama couldn't beat him.
What Am I, Stupid?
I do my best (though it's hard) not to judge the candidates by their campaigns or surrogates. Ultimately this is about who you think will make the best president, combined with considerations of electability and coattails (areas I also try to stay away from). But for several weeks now there's just been this steady stream of downright insulting stuff coming out of the Clinton campaign. It's the kind of stuff that would come out of Ari Fleischer's mouth back in the day. Stop it!
Double Down
WHEEEEEEEEEEEE
March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Home Loan Banks were freed to increase their purchase of mortgage-backed bonds by about $150 billion as part of a government effort to pump money back into a market that slumped as the housing crisis deepened.
...
The FHLBs are cooperatives created by President Herbert Hoover in 1932 to spur mortgage lending. The system's 8,100 owners and customers range from New York-based Citigroup Inc., the largest U.S. bank, to the single-branch Custer Federal Savings & Loan in Broken Bow, Nebraska. Their government ties support top AAA ratings from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service.
Better Wise Old Men of Washington, Please
Really. Please.
Perhaps in fantasyland the people who made the messes would have to clean them up, but that would require that those people acknowledged that they helped to make the mess.
Even aside from his aversion to any sensible regulations, we had this:
That was in 2004.
And Robert Rubin was a Citi board member, and, Condi-like, suggested nobody could have predicted...
How about finding some wise old men of Washington (or young ones) who were trying to warn about this stuff instead of the ones who were cheering it on.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton called on President Bush on Monday to appoint ''an emergency working group on foreclosures'' to recommend new ways to confront the nation's housing finance troubles.
The New York senator said the panel should be led by financial experts such as Robert Rubin, who was treasury secretary in her husband's administration, and former Federal Reserve chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker.
Perhaps in fantasyland the people who made the messes would have to clean them up, but that would require that those people acknowledged that they helped to make the mess.
Even aside from his aversion to any sensible regulations, we had this:
He said a Fed study suggested many homeowners could have saved tens of thousands of dollars in the last decade if they had ARMs. Those savings would not have been realized, however, had interest rates shot up.
"American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage," Greenspan said.
That was in 2004.
And Robert Rubin was a Citi board member, and, Condi-like, suggested nobody could have predicted...
How about finding some wise old men of Washington (or young ones) who were trying to warn about this stuff instead of the ones who were cheering it on.
Mo Money
Bear is hungry.
I don't know know enough about what either company is/was sitting on to really know what's going on, but we do know that the Fed/Treasury said ok to this deal based on the idea that by essentially wiping Bear's shareholders out, it wasn't in any sense a "bailout" of the company. They weren't rewarding bad behavior (though whether they were rewarding JPMorgan for bad behavior is another question).
...more here.
LONDON - With angry shareholders threatening to block what they see as a piddling bid for Bear Stearns by JP Morgan, it's perhaps not surprising that the buyer would attempt to placate them by quintupling its offer.
...
Bear was reportedly seeking to authorize the sale of a 39.5% stake on Sunday night, which under Delaware law can be done without shareholder approval. Both Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase are incorporated in Delaware.
I don't know know enough about what either company is/was sitting on to really know what's going on, but we do know that the Fed/Treasury said ok to this deal based on the idea that by essentially wiping Bear's shareholders out, it wasn't in any sense a "bailout" of the company. They weren't rewarding bad behavior (though whether they were rewarding JPMorgan for bad behavior is another question).
...more here.
Does Politics Have A Place In The Pulpit?
Apparently Barack Obama has forced CNN to address this newly-raised question.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Bargains!!
KC Star:
Real estate agent Cindy Tomasic was taken aback by her first foreclosure listing in tony Loch Lloyd.
...
A review by The Kansas City Star of real estate listings in Jackson, Johnson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties showed at least 50 homes priced $500,000 or more are in foreclosure or are subject to bank-approved sales to avoid one.
...
As a result, real estate agents point to some bargain-basement prices on homes boasting 4,000 square feet or more. Examples abound:
•A $1.5 million Blue Springs home with staircases to east and west wings, a dance floor and five garages listed for $1.05 million.
•A $1.4 million Independence home with two decks, a poolside wet bar, hot tub and waterfall offered for less than $1 million.
•A $1.3 million, 6,500-plus square-foot Hallbrook home with granite, marble and hardwood floors sold for $849,000.
•A $1.25 million Loch Lloyd home with a wine cellar and an imported English pub bar sold in foreclosure for $775,000.
Local Activity
Saw no political activity whatsoever during my 18 block round trip walk to Whole Foods. Rather odd as tomorrow is the voter registration deadline.
Condo Hell
On its way.
There's just an incredibly long time between the moment when a big urban condo project is envisaged and when it can be completed. Here in Philly, where I don't think things ever got quite as crazy as some other places, there are new projects just beginning which probably don't make much sense. No one seems to have explained to local developers and real estate agents the concept of "nonconforming loans," and that most people just don't have access to a mortgage at a sane rate above $417,000 right now.
Probably the biggest concern is that these places get built, but built on the cheap.
The condominium market is about to get worse as many cities brace for a flood of new supply this year -- the result of construction started at the height of the housing boom.
More than 4,000 new units will be completed in both Atlanta and Phoenix by the end of the year. Developers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are readying nearly 10,000 total new units in a market already struggling with canyons of unsold condos. San Diego, another hard-hit region, will add 2,500 units, according to estimates provided by Reis Inc., a New York-based real-estate-research firm.
...
Developers usually put up their own money for a project first, then spend borrowed funds. Once developers have spent their money and have commitments from lenders, they have a strong incentive to keep building to finish the project.
"These developers had millions of dollars tied up and they had them financed so they just moved forward," says J. Ronald Terwilliger, chief executive of Trammell Crow Residential, which builds many rental apartment buildings and also a few condos. "What they hope is that by the time the project is finished the market comes back."
There's just an incredibly long time between the moment when a big urban condo project is envisaged and when it can be completed. Here in Philly, where I don't think things ever got quite as crazy as some other places, there are new projects just beginning which probably don't make much sense. No one seems to have explained to local developers and real estate agents the concept of "nonconforming loans," and that most people just don't have access to a mortgage at a sane rate above $417,000 right now.
Probably the biggest concern is that these places get built, but built on the cheap.
Meanwhile
Over there.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide car bomber killed at least 13 Iraqi soldiers and wounded dozens more people in Iraq's north on Sunday. Meanwhile, the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad came under fire from either mortars or rockets, and a round that fell short injured two bystanders.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Document the atrocities.
ABC's "This Week" — Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.
___
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.
___
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Journalists round table.
___
CNN's "Late Edition" — Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie; Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Laura Tyson, former economic adviser to President Clinton.
"Fox News Sunday" _ Govs. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers; Eli Manning, New York Giants quarterback and member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Samwise For Hillary
But what of Frodo?
Ah, Frodo's too busy with gypsy stuff.
Actor Sean Astin and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend will join former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea on their campaign swing through Indiana Monday.
Ah, Frodo's too busy with gypsy stuff.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Deep Thought
The internets have been with us for quite awhile now, and still there are people who think that the generous use of capital letters is an effective debating tactic.
Oh My
I believe the YouTube era begins the age when it is impossible to tell parody/irony/performance art from completely sincere product.
Local Activity
Saw a lot of Clinton supporters out on the streets today and not so many Obama supporters, though whether my route through the city was representative of anything I have no idea. Obama people did have a registration table at the Reading Terminal Market and I didn't see one from Clinton people.
No Dirty Fucking Hippies Allowed
It's absurd but nonetheless completely normal that 5 years later, anti-war voices are almost completely missing from our mainstream public discourse and all of the idiots who cheered this thing on are given platform after platform to describe their intellectual journey or whatever. I don't really understand the degree of narcissism that many of them exhibit, unable to recognize that what the world really needs is for them to shut the fuck up and turn their microphones over to people who didn't cheer on this horrible disaster.
Classy
NYT:
(ht reader r)
The reaction of some of Mr. Clinton’s allies suggests that might have been a wise decision. “An act of betrayal,” said James Carville, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton and a friend of Mr. Clinton.
“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week.
(ht reader r)
Meanwhile
Over there.
Four more US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, bringing the death toll since the invasion in 2003 close to 4,000.
The US military said that in the latest incident on Saturday, three soldiers died when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb north-west of Baghdad.
Another soldier died from injuries sustained in an attack south on Friday.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wasteland
Fun in the California sun.
Indio, with nearly 1,500 homes in foreclosure in the city's limits, is leading valley cities in taking a stand.
A new law goes into effect April 4 targeting abandoned homes with overgrown landscaping, stagnant pools and other eyesores that scream "empty" to squatters.
The law requires that abandoned properties be registered with the city and maintained. If not, the owner - usually the bank in foreclosed situations - could face fines or criminal prosecution.
...
In Desert Hot Springs, where abandoned homes also are being used for unsupervised parties by youths, a similar ordinance was approved Tuesday by its City Council.
In Palm Springs, the subject of abandoned buildings including homes was discussed at a recent City Council study session.
The problem Indio and other cities face with foreclosed homes is not knowing who the owner of a home is and who is responsible for its maintenance.
Homeowners are walking away from their homes without notifying their lenders, Meadows said.
And banks in some cases won't take responsibility for properties until more than six months into the foreclosure process, he said.
Noted Without Comment
Bill Clinton, today:
It'd be a great thing if we had an election where you had two people who love this country, who were devoted to the interest of the country and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues instead of all this other stuff which always seems to intrude on our politics.
Entrepreneurship
Nice scam.
Sounds like they conned some people into signing up for shitty mortgages with bait and switch tactics, and just went ahead and forged documents for others.
LOS ANGELES — In August 2007, investigator Eric Bremner found evidence in a shredder at Olympic Escrow that he says confirmed borrowers' complaints that they had never signed the mortgage documents that pushed them into a financial hell.
Bremner found pieces of documents that had been cut to remove signatures and notary seals. Loan applications, escrow agreements and other documents had signatures that had been taped on, he said.
...
The group is accused of targeting unknowing homeowners whose homes had escalated in value by offering dreamlike mortgage refinancing offers, with promises of cash back and lower monthly payments, Bremner said.
Victims later learned they had been locked into high-interest rate loans, excessive fees and unfavorable terms. In some cases, the cash back never materialized.
Late Tuesday, the alleged ringleader in the scam, 25-year-old Eric Pony, and his sister, Paulette Pony, 23, turned themselves in to police to face charges including conspiracy, grand theft, forgery and elder abuse. Five other suspects were also arrested.
...
For Tracylyn Sharrit, 40, the regulations would be too late. After meeting with Eric Pony, she said she found her signature forged on loan documents and the monthly payments on her three-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot home in San Bernardino jumped from $1,070 to $1,868.
The money promised to her in an equity cash-out has been whittled away on fees, and her loan amount ballooned from $167,000 to more than $260,000.
Sounds like they conned some people into signing up for shitty mortgages with bait and switch tactics, and just went ahead and forged documents for others.
The Press And Clinton
As I wrote before, while it would be absurd to claim that Clinton is treated well be the press - she's treated horribly in general - it's also the case that anyone else would be subjected to a louder and increasingly derisive drumbeat for her to get out of the race.
I'm not saying that would be right, either, but that's the way it would be.
I'm not saying that would be right, either, but that's the way it would be.
DFHs
Andy Sullivan confirms what I'd long thought: he thought Iraq was a terrific idea because he hates hippies.
He is a Very Serious Person.
He is a Very Serious Person.
Mysteries
So the State Department realized they had a problem with Obama's passport file when a reporter started asking questions?
Who told the reporter?
Who told the reporter?
Oh Well
You know, it's their job to try to make sense of the news and explain it to the rest of us. David Gregory, 7/22/07:
Mr. KARL ROVE: (July 8) I think Iraq may or may not be the big issue. It
depends on where Iraq is by March or April or May of next year. I think it's
likely not to be the dominant issue because I think--I--because of my
assumptions about where it is--where I think it's likely to be.
MATTHEWS: Where they serving Kool-Aid out there in Aspen or what? `It may
not be the big issue.'
What's he know that you know?
Mr. DAVID GREGORY: (NBC News Chief White House Correspondent): Well, that's
the question. I mean, how can Karl Rove possibly know where things are going
to be? Either he knows that the president's going to pull out, you know, a
lot faster than people think and the president's saying or that somehow things
are going to improve in a way that people can anticipate.
MATTHEWS: Mm. OK, report, David. What do you think it is? Do you think
there's a chance there is a secret plan to yank?
Mr. GREGORY: Well, yeah, I don't know there's a secret plan. I think
there's no question that Bush wants to change the footprint. In other words,
bring troops home. And I think by next spring, we're not going to be at
160,000 troops. Maybe it's less than 100,000. Our role is redefined.
The Stupidest People In The World
I was going to let this go, but I just can't. Will "Too Stupid To Tie Shoes" Saletan wrote his little "How a supergenius like me helped cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people" piece for Slate as a list of "lessons learned." All relatively innocuous until you get to the last one.
In other words, the real problem with the Iraq war is that it's made it impossible to... repeat the mistake with Iran.
Our discourse is ruled by monstrous fools. Why can't Saletan just go back to telling women how they're supposed to feel when they have abortions?
8. Consider the opportunity cost. The problem with dumb war isn't that it's war. The problem is that it costs you the military, economic, and political resources to fight a smart war. Everything Bush wrongly attributed to Iraq turns out to be true of Iran. But we can't confront Iran with the force it probably requires, because we wasted our resources in Iraq. Americans, having been suckered in Iraq, won't accept evidence of Iran's nuclear program. Countries that might have supported us in a strike on Iran won't do so now, since we led them astray. Our coffers have been emptied to pay for the Iraq occupation. Our troops are physically and spiritually exhausted. In the name of strength, Bush has made us weak.
In other words, the real problem with the Iraq war is that it's made it impossible to... repeat the mistake with Iran.
Our discourse is ruled by monstrous fools. Why can't Saletan just go back to telling women how they're supposed to feel when they have abortions?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
And Around We Go
Maybe they can hire Joe DiGenova to defend them.
- Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's passport file.
Spokesman Sean McCormack Thursday night confirmed instances of what he called "imprudent curiosity" by the State Department employees.
McCormack said the department itself detected the breaches, which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14.
Nice One, Joe
Joe Klein on CNN just now:
Always classy, that one.
...For those not living in cable news hell, the big story of the day is a stingray leaping onto a boat and killing a woman.
Maybe the operative metaphor here isn't drowning but a giant stingray landing in Obama's boat.
Always classy, that one.
...For those not living in cable news hell, the big story of the day is a stingray leaping onto a boat and killing a woman.
Who Cares What They Think?
Glenn correctly mocks Slate doing yet another round of "how could all of you intellectual and moral superhuman liberal hawks have fucked the whole world up."
But in the credit where credit is due file, we have Tim Noah.
But in the credit where credit is due file, we have Tim Noah.
A larger question, though: Why should you waste your time, at this late date, ingesting the opinions of people who were wrong about Iraq? Wouldn't you benefit more from considering the views of people who were right? Five years after this terrible war began, it remains true that respectable mainstream discussion about its lessons is nearly exclusively confined to people who supported the war, even though that same mainstream acknowledges, for the most part, that the war was a mistake. That's true of Slate's symposium, and it was true of a similar symposium that appeared March 16 on the New York Times' op-ed pages. The people who opposed U.S. entry into the Iraq war, it would appear, are insufficiently "serious" to explain why they were right.
Not A Choice
Rick Perlstein:
The thing is, they just can't "sever Bush from conservatism." The entire conservative movement hung it all on Iraq. Huggy Bear is hanging it all on Iraq. At the moment Iraq is the conservative movement. There's nothing else. The only way to sever bush from conservatism is to sever conservatism from Iraq. And they can't.
The right has thrown down the gauntlet: rehabilitate Bush, to rehabilitate conservatism, and if they can't do that, sever Bush from conservatism.
The thing is, they just can't "sever Bush from conservatism." The entire conservative movement hung it all on Iraq. Huggy Bear is hanging it all on Iraq. At the moment Iraq is the conservative movement. There's nothing else. The only way to sever bush from conservatism is to sever conservatism from Iraq. And they can't.
Campaigns and Bloggers
For the 5 people who care about this stuff, neither the Obama campaign nor the Clinton campaign have been super awesome about reaching out to people like me in a general sense, though they may be doing so in a more targeted way which I'm not party to, but the Obama campaign has been significantly better.
By reaching out I don't mean kissing up to, just distributing speeches and appearance info and general information like that.
This post isn't meant as criticism, just observation.
By reaching out I don't mean kissing up to, just distributing speeches and appearance info and general information like that.
This post isn't meant as criticism, just observation.
Oddly Quiet
The campaigns haven't descended into PA the way I had expected. Not yet, anyway. But there is some more under the radar stuff.
Sen. Barack Obama called into sports radio 610 WIP this morning, charming the usually rambuctious morning talk show hosts and winning their endorsements.
"People are really swept up [by this candidate]," said host Al Morganti. "It's almost like teenaged girls at a concert. It's goofy"
Before Obama's interview even began at 8 a.m., jocks Angelo Cataldi and Morganti greeted the Democratic presidential hopeful with a scatted, and offkey, rendition of "Hail to the Chief."
Obama's five-minute appearance didn't even touch on sports. The hosts, both entralled by the candidate's charisma, addressed him as if he were a rock star. It was more love fest than Meet The Press.
Both Obama and Hillary Clinton, his opponent in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, are using the radio to connect with potential voters. Clinton was a guest on Chris Booker's Q102 morning show March 11.
Doesn't Know Anything About Anything
But McCain has strong foreign policy experience, though what that experience is no one can actually explain.
Thursday Is New Jobless Day
Definitely at sustained higher levels.
The number of US workers filing initial claims for unemployment aid climbed 22,000 last week, while the overall number on the benefit rolls hit a 3-1/2 year high a week earlier, the government said Thursday.
...
The Labor Department said 378,000 initial claims for jobless benefits were filed in the week ended March 15, up from 356,000 in the prior week. Economists had expected a rise to just 360,000.
The increase pushed a four-week moving average of claims, which gives a better underlying signal on the state of the labor market, to 365,250, the highest level since October 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Are There Any Republicans Left?
Apparently not.
Already, 30 Republicans who started in the 110th Congress won't be in the 11th. Even aside from the party issue that's something to be cheered. I don't like term limits, but it's still good when there's some new blood in Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Five-term western New York Congressman Thomas Reynolds is not seeking re-election this year.
The 57-year-old Republican lawmaker from Erie County will make the announcement at a news conference scheduled for noon Thursday in his Buffalo-area district, according someone familiar with Reynolds' decision. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement hasn't been made yet.
Already, 30 Republicans who started in the 110th Congress won't be in the 11th. Even aside from the party issue that's something to be cheered. I don't like term limits, but it's still good when there's some new blood in Congress.
They Write Letters
Patricia Ward Kelly writes to the New York Times:
Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):
Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.
When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.
Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.
Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.
Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
No, Really?
The catchup is getting old.
As some of us have been trying to explain for a long time, "subprime" was a category of borrower, and ARMs and other types of "exotic" mortgages were loan types. While in some areas subprime borrowers were probably more vulnerable to predatory loan tactics, this has never been a "subprime" problem. If I had to describe simply if imperfectly what the problem was, I'd say it was a lax lending standards problem. Years ago I said these stupid loan terms were a bad idea, but I had no idea then that not only were stupid loans being given out but that they were being given out to people who had no hope of repaying them.
They took out adjustable-rate mortgages at the peak of the housing bubble to buy homes they would otherwise not be able to afford. Or they refinanced existing mortgages to take cash out. And now, two or three years later, the day of reckoning is here.
These are not lower- and middle-income borrowers, but more affluent consumers with annual incomes of $100,000 or more who are increasingly being ensnared in the home mortgage crisis.
...
According to Loan Performance, a unit of First American CoreLogic, a real estate information company based in Santa Ana, Calif., about 870,000 borrowers took jumbo ARMs — mortgages of $417,000 or more — from 2005 to 2007.
As some of us have been trying to explain for a long time, "subprime" was a category of borrower, and ARMs and other types of "exotic" mortgages were loan types. While in some areas subprime borrowers were probably more vulnerable to predatory loan tactics, this has never been a "subprime" problem. If I had to describe simply if imperfectly what the problem was, I'd say it was a lax lending standards problem. Years ago I said these stupid loan terms were a bad idea, but I had no idea then that not only were stupid loans being given out but that they were being given out to people who had no hope of repaying them.
Snip Snip
If they have to edit the videos to fit their story, they'll do it.
I'm under no illusions that there ever was some golden age of journalism, but it'd be nice if more actual journalists who imagine such a thing would speak up now and then.
I'm under no illusions that there ever was some golden age of journalism, but it'd be nice if more actual journalists who imagine such a thing would speak up now and then.
They
Jane Harman, Joe Klein's favorite Democrat, is awesome.
I approached Harman with notepad in hand and told her that I’d been involved in our reporting the year before on the NSA eavesdropping program. “I’m trying to square what I heard in there,” I said, “with what we know about that program.” Harman’s golden California tan turned a brighter shade of red. She knew exactly what I was talking about. Shooing away her aides, she grabbed me by the arm and drew me a few feet away to a more remote section of the Capitol corridor.
“You should not be talking about that here,” she scolded me in a whisper. “They don’t even know about that,” she said, gesturing to her aides, who were now looking on at the conversation with obvious befuddlement. “The Times did the right thing by not publishing that story,” she continued. I wanted to understand her position. What intelligence capabilities would be lost by informing the public about something the terrorists already knew – namely, that the government was listening to them? I asked her. Harman wouldn’t bite. “This is a valuable program, and it would be compromised,” she said. I tried to get into some of the details of the program and get a better understanding of why the administration asserted that it couldn’t be operated within the confines of the courts. Harman wouldn’t go there either. “This is a valuable program,” she repeated. This was clearly as far as she was willing to take the conversation, and we didn’t speak again until months later, after the NSA story had already run. By then, Harman’s position had undergone a dramatic transformation. When the story broke publicly, she was among the first in line on Capitol Hill to denounce the administration’s handling of the wiretapping program, declaring that what the NSA was doing could have been done under the existing FISA law.
Cafferty
It doesn't quite come through in the transcript, but the disgust was palpable.
CAFFERTY: Interesting, isn't it, all those 11,000, 12,000 pages of documents released today. What's the first thing that the press corps satisfied their curiosity about? The fact that Hillary Clinton was in the White House the day Monica Lewinsky got the stain on her dress. That moved on one of the wires that I read about at 3:00 this afternoon. Amazing.
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