Saturday, April 17, 2010
Scenarios
I keep trying to come up with scenarios that would allow an international organization to systematically cover-up, and even enable, the sexual abuse of children Like, imagine the Montessori program turned out to be an organization that permitted their practitioners to break molestation laws, and covered up for them.
I can't see how the organization would last a month.
The idea that the Church can have its members pray the hierarchy's way out of this seems absurd on its face. And yet we have seen no RICO filings.
Oh, and by the way, all the talk in the Church hierarchy is that this is all in the distant past. You can be sure that this is not the case.
I can't see how the organization would last a month.
The idea that the Church can have its members pray the hierarchy's way out of this seems absurd on its face. And yet we have seen no RICO filings.
Oh, and by the way, all the talk in the Church hierarchy is that this is all in the distant past. You can be sure that this is not the case.
Does Anybody Remember Science?
Remember that nonsense about how scientists warning about global climate change had their emails stolen and then they got slandered by crazy right wing loons? Funny thing -- it turns out the scientists were right all along!
There really is a very narrow legislative window for the US to do anything constructive about climate change. If I had to bet, I would bet on the window closing and our illustrious Senators and Representatives doing jack shit about this most pressing issue: Glad to be wrong.
There really is a very narrow legislative window for the US to do anything constructive about climate change. If I had to bet, I would bet on the window closing and our illustrious Senators and Representatives doing jack shit about this most pressing issue: Glad to be wrong.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Justice Friday
More like this, please.
The former president of Blackwater Worldwide has been indicted on weapons charges.
An indictment issued Friday charges Gary Jackson along with four others, including former general counsel Andrew Howell and former executive vice president Bill Mathews. The charges against Jackson include a conspiracy to violate firearms laws, false statements and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Run, Lou Dobbs, Run
Whenever I hear about someone like him running for office, I just think... no way it will happen. Running for president is really hard work. Lots of people have the "I'll just say I'm running and everyone will vote for me" idea, but it doesn't actually work.
Substantial
Guess it's true.
Can't wait to find out how many people working for the school district knew about this and thought it was ok.
The Lower Merion School District today acknowledged that investigators reviewing its controversial laptop tracking program have recovered "a substantial number of webcam photos" and that they expect to soon start notifying parents whose children were photographed.
Can't wait to find out how many people working for the school district knew about this and thought it was ok.
The Long And The Short Of It
As Felix says, while there's something a bit odd-seeming about a firm like Goldman Sachs shorting the stuff it's passing on to its clients, it's only really a major problem if they're lying to investors and actually committing fraud, which perhaps they did...
Progress
Troubles for Goldman.
Goldman Sachs, which emerged relatively unscathed from the financial crisis, was accused of securities fraud in a civil suit filed Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which claims the bank created and sold a mortgage investment that was secretly devised to fail.
Sadly It Won't Happen
But allowing bankruptcy judges to deal with residential mortgage debt was always the best way to deal with the foreclosure crisis.
Correction Desk
Last night I wrote that the box turtle line originated from a Red State commenter. Reader E informs me that I am incorrect, and it came from a comment at Ben's own personal site at the time.
Exciting New Taxes
I'm always puzzled when politicians and DC chatterers imagine that while increasing an existing tax by some infinitesimal amount is political suicide, enacting some Exciting New Tax is just the thing.
Box Turtle Ben
For those arriving late (jeebus, it's been six years), an explanation of the nom de tortue. Once upon a time our pal Ben was a speechwriter for John Cornyn. A reporter given an advanced copy of a Cornyn speech highlighted a line about box turtle nuptials, which apparently Cornyn had the good sense not to deliver. A source at the time of Ben's little plagiarism problem told me Ben wrote that speech, though I don't think I've ever confirmed that definitively. However, it was a line lifted from a Red State commenter one of his own commenters, so...
- It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. . . . Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
High School Spycam
Totally effed if true.
(ht wb)
The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district.
More than once, the motion asserts, the camera on Robbins' school-issued laptop took photos of Robbins as he slept in his bed. Each time, it fired the images off to network servers at the school district.
Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into "a little LMSD soap opera," a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program.
(ht wb)
Not Just
Your modern teabagger.
(ht reader j)
He said he "worked my way up from nothing" and was not about to allow "somebody else to reach in my pocket and just take it away and give to somebody laying on their ass."
Johnson expressed opposition to President Obama. "It's not just because he's black," he said. "I wish I could tell you that I loved this guy, that he was a great president, that I had faith in him. But I have none. Zero."
(ht reader j)
Box Turtle Ben
If you're a conservative, there's nothing you can do which will prevent you from being embraced and promoted by the liberal media.
Good Bill
While I certainly cheer on new SUPERTRAIN systems, it's also the case that in many places our existing systems are underused due to inappropriate development patterns around stations. There are a variety of reasons for this - sometimes they've become blight-filled neighborhoods, sometimes there are bad zoning codes and other various barriers to mixed use infill development - so implementing policy which tries to tip the balance the other way is a good thing.
An easy way to get more people to use existing transit systems is to provide desirable affordable housing within walking distance of them.
An easy way to get more people to use existing transit systems is to provide desirable affordable housing within walking distance of them.
There Are Things That Can Be Done
One of the things which Jared Bernstein stressed awhile back when I met with him was that until being in this situation he hadn't appreciated just how difficult it would be to actually try to administer the massive fiscal stimulus that they were administering. I appreciate that, especially for an administration rightly concerned that any waste and corruption, real or imaginary, would be used to bludgeon them politically. Basically Jared said it's actually kind of hard to shovel hundreds of billions of dollars out the door. I'm sure this is true, but right now we're in recession, tons of people are unemployed and what's needed is somebody, anybody, spending lots of money. I'll happily offer up my rather filthy urban hellhole to be the recipient of a large street cleaning grant, and those sewer pipes aren't going to replace themselves.
Uh...
To the extent that such distortions are real, they're generally predictable, and since when do Sunday holidays have a major impact on such things...
Maybe get some new economists who are aware of the obvious impacts of these 'distortions.'
Claims have unexpectedly risen two straight weeks, but a Labor official said the Easter holiday and a special holiday in California, the nation's largest state, disrupted collection of jobless data. The distortions should fade over the next few weeks, he said.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast that claims would drop to 430,000. Claims have to fall to 400,000 or lower to indicate an accelerated hiring trend, economists say.
Maybe get some new economists who are aware of the obvious impacts of these 'distortions.'
Shorter Tea Party Slogan
Smaller government for thee, but not for me.
Geeze, I'm tired of these people. They are the same crazies that hounded Clinton and really they amount to nothing more than a bunch of sore losers.
Morning and shit.
Geeze, I'm tired of these people. They are the same crazies that hounded Clinton and really they amount to nothing more than a bunch of sore losers.
Morning and shit.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Heckuva Job
I'm sure all involved were well compensated for their brilliant actions.
Of course we should all remember that there's some risk in any investment, but for employee pension funds "some risk" shouldn't include nontrivial chance of losing 61% of the investment.
In 2007, as the global property price bubble was about to burst, professional investors gave Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund VI International $8.8 billion to invest in properties around the world. Some $452.5 million of that money, 5 percent of the total, came from the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System.
Morgan Stanley has now warned investors it may lose $5.4 billion, or 61 percent, of that total as property values collapse, say the Wall St Journal and Bloomberg Business Week. "That would likely make it the biggest dollar loss in the history of private-equity real-estate investing," says the Journal. "The losses come from investments in properties such as the European Central Bank's Frankfurt headquarters, a big development project in Tokyo and InterContinental hotels across Europe."
Of course we should all remember that there's some risk in any investment, but for employee pension funds "some risk" shouldn't include nontrivial chance of losing 61% of the investment.
B-Roll
I've never really understood why the press is interested in the fake "theater meeting for the cameras." It isn't an actual event, it's completely a performance for the assembled theater critics journalists.
Weird Guy
The VA Gov seems to be into doing really asshole things with predictable responses and then backtracking.
RICHMOND -- Letters telling more than 200 felons in Virginia that they had to write a "personal letter to the Governor" to get their voting rights restored were sent in error, a spokesman for Gov. Robert F. McDonnell said Tuesday, adding that the potential requirement is merely a "draft policy proposal."
Soccergamegate
This just might be the scandal that brings down the Obama administration and prematurely ends our glorious age of socialism.
Nothing To Be Done
Maybe Helicopter Ben just thinks there's nothing more to be done, or maybe he thinks that massive unemployment is the price other people have to pay in order to prevent the risk of a mild uptick in the inflation rate.
Don't Talk About Industrial Policy
One of the more annoying economist-led bits of self-deception has been for years the idea that "industrial policy" is bad and more than that the US doesn't have one. Of course we do and we always have, even if we don't think about it as such.
C4
Somewhat related.
The Dayton Police Bomb Squad assisted the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the arrest of Daniel Bancroft, 43, and brother Robert for allegedly trying to sell blocks of C4 explosive across state lines in February, according to the FBI.
Paul Zahn, 44, of Bainbridge, was also arrested on charges related to the investigation.
The FBI claims the brothers were going to sell 12 blocks of C4, obtained somehow from the U.S. military, FBI Special Agent Mike Brooks said.
What has two thumbs and got engaged yesterday?
This guy!*
*(You can't tell, but I'm pointing at myself with my thumbs. It's a joke. But I really did get engaged to a wonderful woman yesterday, no joke.)
*(You can't tell, but I'm pointing at myself with my thumbs. It's a joke. But I really did get engaged to a wonderful woman yesterday, no joke.)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A Mild Defense Of The Post
While Benen is correct about the odd discrepancy between the Post's coverage of Ensign and Massa, there is one reasonable explanation for some of that discrepancy. The Massa story is more of a "local" story, in that it's about the lives and experiences of Capitol Hill staffers. I don't think that comes close to fully excusing the difference in coverage, but it reasonably could explain a bit of it.
The Weird Politics Of The Gas Tax
I get that increasing the gas tax would be difficult politically, but one of the points I'm trying to make is that the public response to such a thing is completely out of whack given its minimal impact. Plenty of places have managed to increase the sales tax by a percentage point or so - some even through referendum! - and that'll cost a typical consumer a hell of lot more than a dime increase in the federal gas tax.
Also, Al Gore Is Fat
Important to remember that salient point.
The ice block tumbled into a lake in the Andes on Sunday near the town of Carhuaz, some 200 miles north of the capital, Lima. Three people were feared buried in debris.
Investigators said the chunk of ice from the Hualcan glacier measured 1,640 feet by 656 feet.
"This slide into the lake generated a tsunami wave, which breached the lake's levees, which are 23 meters high -- meaning the wave was 23 meters high," said Patricio Vaderrama, an expert on glaciers at Peru's Institute of Mine Engineers.
The Crushing Burden Of A Modest Gas Tax Increase
The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. It's been at that level since 1993. If it had been adjusted for inflation since it would be at 28 cents now. For someone using 25 gallons of gas per week, increasing it by 9.6 cents per gallon would cost an additional $2.40 per week and $124.80 per year, assuming no change in overall demand. That isn't nothing, and any additional burden on poor people is nontrivial, but it doesn't make "it will hurt the poor" a particularly compelling argument against increasing the gas tax.
All The Poor People I Know Don't Drive
Whenever I mention a gas tax increase, a few people jump in and complain that it's bad because it's a regressive tax. It is regressive for people who drive, and I'm certainly for alleviating the burden on the poor in other ways to offset, but the fact is that the regressive nature of the tax is already offset by the fact that poor people are much less likely to own cars and drive.
Obviously this is largely a distinction between the rural poor and the urban poor, and I have no desire to impose additional burdens on the former, but when it comes to worrying about the potential problems facing "the poor," a modest gas tax increase is really not high up the list. If you desire to advocate to improve the plight of poor people, the fight against a gas increase really isn't the most important use of your time.
...to put it another way, if you want to argue that a gas tax increase should be partially or fully used to, say, increase the EITC or to support policies which improve transportation options for the poor, I'm with you.
Obviously this is largely a distinction between the rural poor and the urban poor, and I have no desire to impose additional burdens on the former, but when it comes to worrying about the potential problems facing "the poor," a modest gas tax increase is really not high up the list. If you desire to advocate to improve the plight of poor people, the fight against a gas increase really isn't the most important use of your time.
...to put it another way, if you want to argue that a gas tax increase should be partially or fully used to, say, increase the EITC or to support policies which improve transportation options for the poor, I'm with you.
So Do It
Herbert:
So...move forward!
Ms. Pelosi acknowledged that “there is always a calibration” between concerns about deficit reduction and the spending that is necessary to substantially reduce unemployment. But she believes there are several fronts on which Congress and the Obama administration can — in fact, must — still move forward: on infrastructure and green energy initiatives, for example, and assistance to states hobbled with fiscal crises of their own.
So...move forward!
Literacy Test
From the credit where credit is due file, Fred Hiatt's crayon scribble page gets one right.
Don't Forget The Commuting Costs
It isn't some new discovery that housing costs tend to decrease as you move away from employment centers, but the big question is whether people accurately take the increase in commuting costs into account when they make their home location choices. I certainly don't know the answer to that, but I suspect that people tend to see automobile costs as largely fixed, not variable, and while they might factor in some of the additional cost associated with living in the exurbs, they underestimate that amount.
Nice Work
I guess I'm being part of the problem here, but one day I do hope our media stops obsessing about reality TV star Palin, who will never hold elected office again.
Since leaving office at the end of July 2009, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee has brought in at least 100 times her old salary – a haul now estimated at more than $12 million -- through television and book deals and a heavy schedule of speaking appearances worth five and six figures.
Things Chuck Norris Actually Says
He's been hit in the head a lot.
We all must fight (once and for all and across the board) to elect fiscally prudent politicians like our Founders, those like Thomas Jefferson, who brought down the national deficit though making the Louisiana Purchase and engaging the U.S. in a war with Tripoli.Yes, if only we had a far-flung foreign war to fight and a pressing need to spend money in Louisiana, we'd be kickboxing the living daylights out of that pesky deficit.
Monday, April 12, 2010
What Are They For Again?
Back when I was young and naive I assumed the purpose of journalism was to inform readers/viewers about relevant facts. Apparently we're supposed to figure it all out by ourselves.
Local Kids Done Good
I pick on my local newspapers quite a bit, but they did a good thing with this one.
And Ponies
The only realistic way for a future governor to get a gas tax or similar increase through the legislature is if they actually run on it and win. We should do lots of things and I'll figure out how pay for them later does not lay the foundation for actually getting anything done.
More generally there was a window, after George Bush fucked everything up, for Dems to point out that there are things government does such as fixing bridges that require a bit of money, and not have an immediate taxpayer revolt. I worry that time is gone, but maybe there's still an opportunity for charismatic politicians to make the case.
More generally there was a window, after George Bush fucked everything up, for Dems to point out that there are things government does such as fixing bridges that require a bit of money, and not have an immediate taxpayer revolt. I worry that time is gone, but maybe there's still an opportunity for charismatic politicians to make the case.
Oops
I've long been fascinated with the fact that architects/engineers/construction crews actually manage to put big buildings up without screwing it up. Sometimes they don't.
Our Dumb Discourse
CNN Chyron right now:
That extreme left, always so powerful.
THE SEARCH FOR THE MIDDLE
Extreme left&right dominate headlines
That extreme left, always so powerful.
Our Man In Kabul
I don't know what the hell we're doing in Afghanistan and therefore have no opinion on how nice we should be to Karzai, but it's touching to see that after all these years the favored discourse of foreign policy writers hasn't changed. Fareed Zakaria:
People who disagree with the Very Serious People are unserious, infantile, need to grow up, etc.
The Obama administration needs to grow up, recognize that in the real world Karzai is the best partner it has and roll out the red carpet for him when he finally gets to the White House on May 12.
People who disagree with the Very Serious People are unserious, infantile, need to grow up, etc.
Really?
I really don't think any additional serious legislation is going to make it out of Congress this year, especially immigration reform. Happy to be wrong about such things, but...
Killing Off The Post Office
I can imagine a future where quality reliable universal postal service isn't really necessary, but I don't think we're anywhere near that future yet. I'm sure there are cuts which can be made, and perhaps cutting Saturday delivery service has some merit (though I would hope Saturday branch hours would remain), but I would recommend going very slowly on any cuts which greatly impacted service...
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Crazy China
Where the government can do things like tap your phones and read your email without warrants.
Consumer Electronics
I know it's the internets, where anything can inspire a flame war, but I admit to being puzzled that so many people appear to get really angry about opinions about the iPad. It's a device. Some people might think it useful, others not. Really not much more complicated than that.
Feminist Icon
Quite often we have to wonder just what is the purpose of mainstream news outlets. It certainly isn't to inform readers/viewers.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has Secretaries Clinton and Gates.
This Week has Secretaries Clinton and Gates, along with Senators Kyl and Schumer.
Meet the Press has Secretaries Clinton and Gates, Senators Leahy and Sessions, and a roundtable devised by Satan.
Document the atrocities!
This Week has Secretaries Clinton and Gates, along with Senators Kyl and Schumer.
Meet the Press has Secretaries Clinton and Gates, Senators Leahy and Sessions, and a roundtable devised by Satan.
Document the atrocities!
Morning Thread
by Molly Ivors.
You know, if that MoDo keeps making sense, I'm gonna have to reconsider my entire worldview.
You know, if that MoDo keeps making sense, I'm gonna have to reconsider my entire worldview.
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