There Is a Congressman Crazier than Michelle Bachmann

Texas's (where else) own Louie Gohmert.

Play him off, Jon Stewart:

2 Snaps Up to Senator Schumer

He just made the obvious point that the current H1B program does not serve the needs of the American people:

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says that the H-1B program has created "multinational temp agencies" that undercut U.S. wages and discourage students from entering tech fields.

Schumer said the H-1B program has morphed into program used to hire foreign tech workers "willing to accept less pay than their American counterparts." He spoke on the Senate floor in advance of its approval Thursday of $600 million for border security that includes an H-1B visa fee increase.

He's right, of course. The program is not about finding people who cannot be found in the US, it's about importing cheap labor.

The rise in the H-1B fees is perhaps the best part of the law, thought, of course, the foreign body shops are apoplectic about this, claiming that "The US is giving a very strong signal foreigners are not welcome."

My heart bleeds borscht for them, but they should consider themselves lucky: I would set a soft cap of something like 50K a year visas, and raise the rates when the number of applications exceed this.

As an alternative, you could go with a bidding system, with something like quarterly auctions, which would raise the cost from a $2,500 fee

The new law added $2000 for firms that have more than 50% non citizen/green card workforces, which is still too low.

I Wish that I Lived In Pennsylvania Right Now

I want to vote for Joe Sestak, candidate for Senate,who just did his commonwealth proud:

Sestak chimed in, "As you know, I haven't taken very good direction yet from party leadership. All that said, I strongly believe in the constitutional right of religious freedom and in the separation of church and state applying equally to everyone. Those are rights that I defended for 31 years in that fine U.S. Navy. This is an issue for New York to resolve as long as it respects those constitutional rights. ... Let's also step back and say, 'Let's stop playing politics with religion.' "

When someone asked about the sensitivities of the Sept. 11 families, Sestak said, "Do I respect those sensitivities? Oh yeah. When I walked out of that Pentagon, 30 people who I knew never walked out of that building. My 9/11 is that Pentagon. Am I sensitive to their desires? Sure I am. But I also upheld the Constitution for 31 years. I lived with men and women of all religons and you know what? They're all equal, and I believe that is what's most omportant in this."

Maybe I'll write him in in 2012.

I'm not feeling to hopey changey about Dr. Dean today.

Before I add Heidi Montag to My List of They Who Must Not Be Named,

I must note that her plastic surgeon died in a car accident while texting and driving:

Plastic surgeon-to-the-stars Frank Ryan was killed Monday when his jeep rolled over an embankment off Malibu's Pacific Coast Highway outside of Los Angeles. Authorities believe Ryan was distracted by text messaging at the time of the accident.

Ryan, 50, was known for performing extreme plastic surgery on Hollywood celebrities, including "The Hills" star Heidi Montag. Ryan reportedly performed ten procedures on Montag in one day, including work on her ears, chin, nose, and breasts.

You know, there is a segment of our society that I neither understand nor approve.

They are free to neither understand nor approve me as well.

Still these events evoke Zathras to me:

At least, there is symmetry.
\


Rest assured now. Ms Montag is on my list of They Who Must Not Be Named.

He's Not the Wanker of the Day……

But only because Howard Dean gets that honor today.

Once again, it's Chris Dodd, who continues to audition for his 7-figure lobbying gig, because after sending out signals that she was a great candidate, but not confirmable, there has been a groundswell of support that appears to be dragging the Obama administration kicking and screaming into nominating her. (I still don't think that they will)

So now Dodd has taking a new tack, saying that he is unsure if she is qualified:

"If the president wants to name her and it goes through the hearing process, then fine, she'll have my support," Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) told the Hartford Courant editorial board. "But she has to tell me more than just she's a good consumer advocate or that's she's got a great campaign.

"It isn't just a question of being a consumer advocate. I want to see that she can manage something, too."

Dude, you ran for President of the United States, and you never managed anything bigger than a a Senator's office.

<Facepalm>

Breaking: Obama Breaks Iraq Withdrawal Promise

The news is out, and the State Department has announced that they have declared victory but we will not be leaving.

You see, there are no more combat troops, just, "50,000 advisers," along with something like 85,000 mercenaries contractors, or about 1 per every 200 Iraqis.

And this is what these folks will do:

So will all the troops be coming home? Hopefully, but don't bet on it. Recall that US troops remain in South Korea, six decades after the Korean War.

The 50,000 US troops left until 2011 will supposedly "advise and assist" and perform "anti-terrorism" missions and training. To this old war correspondent and military historian, that sounds an awful lot like the British Empires employment of native troops under white officers.

These remaining rebranded US "training" troops will likely be six armor-heavy combat brigades, backed by warplanes from US air bases in the Gulf. A US brigade withdrawn from Iraq will go to neighboring Kuwait. Most of the rest will transfer to Afghanistan.

You know, he doesn't have to get through Congress, he can just do this, and he won't.

I called this 2 weeks ago, and said that it would be a phony withdrawal.

Unfortunately, I was correct.

Barney Frank: Missing the Lede on the GSEs

The headline, of course is that he is calling for the gradual elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

"I think they should be abolished," Frank said. "The only question is what do you put in their place. This is a situation where given the importance they had come to play in housing, you can't tear down the old jail until you build a new one. And that's a process that we've started."

This is legitimately a big news story, but the rest of his proposal is far more revolutionary. He is a calling for an end to government subsidies to home buyers:

Frank went on: "I have been very critical for a long time that not everybody should be a homeowner. There are people in this society who for economic and frankly social reasons can't and shouldn't be homeowners. I do want some government help to build affordable rental housing."

It's this 2^nd point that is a big deal. While the GSEs (Government Sponsored Entities) were a vanishingly small part of the housing bubble, as house prices exploded, their share of the market fell precipitously, what was a huge part of the market was the enormous subsidies made available to both home buyers, sellers, builders, and agents.

This distorted the market in some very profound ways, and it is very likely that if these measures had not been in place, we would have seen neither the bubble nor the crash.

We sacrificed our economy on the alter of home ownership.

Well F%$# Me.

Pat Buchanan taking the moral high ground
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?


Ted Olson says that Obama is Right


Howard Dean calls for the Islamic center to move

First, Pat Buchanan seizes the moral high ground, 7 words I never expected to say, when he takes Newt Gingrich to task for inappropriate Nazi references:

How do you get more attention than Sarah Palin, who's very good at this, is to go two steps further. I mean, I think bringing the Nazis into the argument is always absurd in American politics because there is no valid comparison there. And secondly, you know, you bring that in and that's all we start talking about.

Meanwhile, Ted Olson, Republican hatchet man, and survivor of a 911 victim, his 1^st wife was on one of the planes, has said that Barack Obama was right to say that this is a matter of fundamental rights and values.

And while we are on the the matter of people taking counter-intuitive positions on this, we have Howard Dean calling for the Islamic center to move.

I'm not sure what brought on this uncharacteristic outburst of cowardice, but Dr. Dean is the individual here to whom the "wanker" tag implies.

We live in a world that resembles what The Onion would write, if they were on Bizarro World, and they dropped acid.

Deep Thought

H/t JR at the Stellar Parthenon BBS.

The Daily Show is the Best Journalism on TV Today*

Seriously, the fact that Jon Stewart has so much material to work with makes me despair for the future of the Republic.

This sh%$ is not rocket science, and the idea that the press is not to call bullsh%$ over transparent bullsh%$ is not a mark of professionalism, it is a mark of cowardice, hypocrisy, and laziness.

In any case, on to the vid.



^*Yes, my Geek Goddess, Rachel Maddow, is a close second.

Gr8 Practical Joke

A few years back, some people in and around San Diego commissioned a sculpture of a surfer called the "Magic Carpet Ride".

It's been rather controversial amongst the surfers, who felt that the statue, "short of the macho image they thought their sport should project."

As a result of this, it has been a target of of some pranks since it was unveiled in 2007.

This is, of course not particularly surprising, when you juxtapose a statue and a sub-culture that prides itself on being unconventional:

Ever since, the statue, known locally — and derisively — by local surfers as the “Cardiff Kook,” has routinely been dressed in different costumes by snarky locals. At various times, the statue of a young male surfer has been adorned with a ballerina’s tutu and luche libre wrestler’s mask, a woman’s bikini and other costumes, most recently a tennis outfit with racket.

That being said, about a month ago, some prankster has entered realm of the masters of the art.

He, and his minions, got jiggy late one night with some serious paper mâché. They encased the statue in the maw of a large Great White Shark,^* creating the illusion of his being swallowed up by a gargantuan selachian.

This is up there in the "one for the ages" category, up there with Davidson HS senior Kyle Garchar, who got the fans from Darby high school to spell out "we suck" at the Darby-Davidson football game.

Brilliant, just brilliant.

^*Actually, it might be big enough for C. Megalodon. That's one big mofo.

Economics Update

Click for full size

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Capacity Utilization


Industrial Production
H/t Calculated Risk

Retail sales rose, but missed forecasts for July, the comment of an economist quoted in the story, "The numbers are consistent with a sluggish consumer profile," is kind of well duh thing.

Hopefully the indications that the big banks are relaxing their lending standards for small businesses for the first time in 4 years.

This is good news, since banks have increasingly attempted to move small business customers from loans to corporate credit cards, where the fees and interest, and hence bank profits, are higher.

On the consumer side, credit card delinquencies fell to the lowest level this year, which could mean that more people are getting back on their feet (good), or that more consumers are deleveraging (mostly bad, see Thrift, Paradox of).

I'm inclined to believe that it is mostly the latter, particularly since bankruptcy filings hit a 5-year high in the 2^nd quarter.

We are seeing some good news in industrial production and capacity utilization, which continue a relatively robust recovery, though a lot of this gain was increased electricity consumption from a record breaking July, though a fair amount is also autos which is an unambiguously good sign. (See also the chart pr0n)

The New York Fed's economic activity index rose in August, but again, it missed forecasts.

In the land of the blithering idiots inflation hawks, the UK district is reporting that British CPI rose at a 3.1% annual rate, down from June's 3.2% rate, which has the inflation hawk piggies squealing that they are missing the 2% target, but as Krugman would say, we are in a liquidity trap, we need more inflation so that real interests rates (interest - inflation) is low enough to foster growth.

I would go further than Krugman, and say that both the Bank of England and the Fed should have a 6-8% target inflation rate for the next 4 years or so.

And then we have real estate, where the market seems to be deflating like the Hindenberg^* following the expiration of the home buying tax credit.

Housing starts rose, but fell well short of forecasts in July, home prices flattened out in June, and home builder confidence fell in August.

^*I know that the Hindenberg did not deflate, it burnt and crashed. That's my point of this mangled metaphor, OK?

The First Shoe Drops on Torture………

Remember the torture tapes that the CIA had destroyed on the watch of Porter Goss, the most corrupt CIA chief ever?

Well, some of the tapes missed the degausser:

The interrogation of Ramzi Binalshibh, a key figure in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was recorded several times while he was being questioned in Morocco by local intelligence officers, according to a U.S. official. The disclosure resolves a mystery over what are thought to be the only existing recordings from the CIA's secret detention program.

The two videotapes and an audiotape do not show any use of what the CIA has called "enhanced interrogation techniques," the official said. Human rights groups have described the CIA's methods as torture.

"The tapes, which were made and found years ago, show a guy sitting at a desk answering questions," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of ongoing investigations.

Still, the disclosure adds a new wrinkle to the public understanding of the documentation of the CIA's detention and interrogation program.

The destruction of 92 videotapes depicting the harsh interrogation and confinement of senior al-Qaeda figures at CIA secret prisons around the world is the subject of a criminal probe. Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the former head of the directorate of operations at the agency, issued an order to destroy the recordings in November 2005 as the CIA's detention and interrogation program came under intense public and congressional scrutiny.

There are likely more tapes out there, and I would hope that the good (i.e. not-torturer) CIA agents who know where they are will get them to people who will do something (Yes, I know, Obama already said no prosecutions) about this.

Seeing as how one of the claims of the Binalshibh defense team is that he's got a screw loose, these tapes may go a long way towards settling that issue as well.

The CIA claims that there was no torture harsh interrogation techniques in the tapes.

Normally, I Don't Have Much to Say About Ball Players Who Retired Before I Was Born……

But I have to note it that Bobby Thompson has died, he was 86.

Who was Mr. Thompson? He (on edit)is the Hall of Fame outfielder who (/on edit) hit the shot heard round the world:


If you are an American, you should know this one even if you don't know jack about Baseball.

I have to guess that Olbermann will comment on this tonight, after all, how can he not?

Blago: A Swing and a Miss

A hung jury on 23 of the 24 counts, and a conviction on lying to an FBI agent:

The jury is finally in on Rod Blagojevich — and the verdict is decidedly undecided.

A federal jury of six men and six women just returned a split verdict against the former governor, convicting him on only one of the 24 criminal corruption counts he faced.

Verdict reached: Blagojevich brothers arrive in court The Blago blog: Latest updates Complete coverage of the Blagojevich trial

The governor was found guilty of giving a false statement to federal agents.

In a courthouse where prosecutors win more than 90 percent of the time and after listening to a treasure trove of secretly recorded conversations, the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision on the other 23 counts.

So, the lesson here is that maybe US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is not all that, which I kind of figured when all he got out of Plamegate was Scooter Libby lying to federal officers (funny similarity there).

Actually, there is a broader lesson: Don't talk to law enforcement if you think that there is the vaguest possibility that you are a target, even minor misstatements get thrown into the mix.

FWIW, I don;t think that Rahm will testify at the inevitable retrial, there is simply no "there" there.

I still cannot figure out how the prosecution screwed the pooch this badly, but I haven't followed the minutiae, and most of what I have heard have been prosecution statements, so I won't 2^ndguess the jury.

IP and Protecting the Incumbent Players

Once again, the Obama administration has gone for a maximalist position on IP, and they are looking at making radio stations start paying license fees to performers, aka a "public performance right":

The recording industry scored a significant victory today with news that the Obama administration will provide its "strong support" for the Performance Rights Act. The bill would force over-the-air radio stations to start coughing up cash for the music they play; right now, the stations pay songwriters, but not the actual recording artists.

I will say that this is a basically fair, since web broadcasters, satellite radio have to pay these fees, and the status of Radio is a historical artifact dating back something like 70 years.

The record distributors love this, and the radio stations (rather unsurprisingly) hate this law.

This, in and of itself, is neither surprising, nor particularly interesting to me.

What is interesting is that the RIAA is trying to cut a Verizon/Google type deal on this:

Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics.

The Consumer Electronics Association, whose members build the devices that would be affected by such a directive, is incandescent with rage. "The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity," thundered CEA president Gary Shapiro. Such a move is "not in our national interest."

This is really pretty absurd. If you have an MP3 player, you can play the song that you want, and not tune into the repetitive crap that comes out of the increasingly conglomerate dominated commercial FM airwaves, though I could see listening to a sporting event.

On a deeper level though, this is profoundly disturbing, because it shows how blatant the incumbents in various segments of our society have become in divvying up the spoils through as privileged participants in the legislative process.

If people really want to change the tenor of Washington, they should start by taking on this sort of corruption head on, and get to Republicans and Democrats calling each other names later.

What Lindsay "Majikthise" Said

She writes on the impending retirement of Cathy Guiswite and notes that while Ms. Guiswite might be a bit of a feminist trailblazer, the character, a desperate woman obsessing about a husband and her thighs is not:

If "Cathy" has any feminist value, it can be subsumed under the maxim: "If you can't be a good example, you can at least be a horrible warning."

I would further note that Ms. Guiswite's actual "feminist trailblazer" cred is pretty thin.

She is not the first female syndicated mass market cartoonist, that would have been Dale Messick, the creator of Brenda Starr.

Though to give Ms. Guiswite her due, she certainly was a trailblazer in coffee mugs, t-shirts, and other commercial knock-offs.

I Have Been Remiss in My Duties

I have not posted Jon Stewart's take on the Lower Manhattan Islamic center:



And Wyatt Cenac's expose:



I have to add Mr. Cenac to my list of People I Do Not Want to Piss Off.

And Here Comes the Walk Back

Remember when I said that, "I expect to see him [Obama] walking this back in some manner or another over the next few days, because, after all, that's how he rolls?"

Well, he just walked it back (that was quick):

Speaking to reporters today, President Obama drew a sharp line under his comments last night, insisting that his defense of the right to build a mosque does not mean he supports the project.

"I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding," he said.

So, to quote Chris Hayes on Maddow this evening, this is "Supporting the 1^st amendment in principal, but not in practice."

So long as Democrats, and Obama is the head of the Democratic Party in all the ways that matter, are willing to flee in terror of this kind of crap, this poo will continue to be flung.

H/t Digby.

Appellate Court Stays Prop 8 Ruling

Not surprising, though on the brighter side, it's going to be an accelerated appeal, which, by the peculiar math of federal courts, means that there will be a hearing on December 6.

The stay is not surprising, and neither is the accelerated schedule, so I am not in a position to read any tea leaves.

What Keith Said

Keith Olbermann's special comment on the bigotry and cowardice behind the campaign technique masquerading as outrage on the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan:



He had his groove back today.

A Bit of Meta

There seems to be a problem with the "recent comments" widget, and recent comments are not showing up, unless someone from JS-Kit is posting, or so it seems.

If it keeps not working, I'll rip out JS-Kit by the roots and go back to blogger's rather brain dead comment managent, until I find something else.

As it stands right now, there are about 3 of my posts (1 apology and 1 test), and 1 post from a reader (Hi, John) on this post have not yet shown up.

Bank Failure Friday on Monday

And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.

110. Palos Bank and Trust Company, Palos Heights, IL

Full FDIC list

Another one bank closing Friday, which is a good thing.

So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):



I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I'm keeping it here for historical purposes.

Big Surprise, Harry Reid Chooses Cowardice Over American Values

He's called for the Lower Manhattan Islamic center to move:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has now spoken out on the Muslim community center in New York -- saying that while the organizers are free to construct the project, it should be moved somewhere else.

"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else," said a statement from Reid spokesman Jim Manley. "If the Republicans are being sincere, they would help us pass this long overdue bill to help the first responders whose health and livelihoods have been devastated because of their bravery on 911, rather than continuing to block this much-needed legislation."

If he weren't running against Sharron Angle, I'd be rooting for the Republican.

Of course, he is running against Sharron Angle, so I am merely ambivalent.

Of course, it's so transparently craven that it probably hurt him more, but cowardice when it is both self-destructive and stupid appears to be a basic Democratic Party value.

What the Hairieriest Saroff Said

On my brother's all too infrequently updated blog, Stephen pointed out two articles that indicate why economics is called the "dismal science."

He points to a Wall Street Journal article (get it through Google news, or you just get the first 2 'graphs) titled Hindenburg Omen Flashes Dread, where an obscure mathematical formula has somewhat dubious predictive powers:

The Omen was present at every market crash since 1987, but has also occurred many other times without an ensuing significant downturn. Market analysts said only about 25% of Omen appearances have led to stock-market declines that can be considered crashes.

So this doomsday equation has predicted something like 20 of the last 5 crashes.

The problem here is not one of economics, but rather of poor journalism.

The story is not "Astonishingly accurate algorithm predicts end of the world," but rather, "Movers and shakers in financial markets spooked by bullsh%$ that is less accurate that checking chicken entrails."

The second article, also from the WSJ notes that as interest rates hit record lows, companies are making record bond issues, particularly of the junk variety.

Of course if another crash is heading in, those junk bonds will be a bad investment, though if it doesn't implode, an 8+% premium on government debt is a winner:

First Data Corp. sold $510 million of 10-year notes this week, at 9.125%, to pay down bank debt due in 2014. Peabody Energy sold $650 million of 6.5%, 10-year notes to pay off the same amount of higher-priced debt due in three years. MultiPlan Inc., a health-care cost-management provider, sold $675 million of notes this week, at 9.875%, to help fund a buyout of the company. Cott Corp., a maker of store-branded soft drinks, sold $375 million of debt at 8.125% to fund its purchase of another company, Cliffstar Corp.

But again, this is really not about economics, it's about finance, greed, and human foibles.

To the degree that economics apply to finance, it is behavioral economics that applies: In order to understand markets, one needs to understand how they are irrational, which is in the rather quixotic juxtaposition of economics and psychology.

I Take a Few Days Off, and This Happens……

He goes and supports the right of an Islamic center to be built a few blocks away from the former World Trade Center (aka Ground Zero):

President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that “as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”

After weeks of avoiding the high-profile battle over the center — his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said last week that the president did not want to “get involved in local decision-making” — Mr. Obama stepped squarely into the thorny debate.

“I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” the president said in remarks prepared for the annual White House iftar, the sunset meal breaking the day’s fast.

But, he continued: “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.”

I am stunned. I did not figure that he has the guts to do this.

I am pleasantly surprised, but I expect to see him walking this back in some manner or another over the next few days, because, after all, that's how he rolls.

Hopefully, I am wrong about this.

I'm Back

Back from the Shabbaton, dealing with 4 days without caffeine (trying to detox), and trying to catch up on the news.

Light Posting for 2-3 Days

The family is off to a shabbos^* religious retreat (Shabbaton), and so I will be away from my computer until sometime Sunday.

I do have a few things queued up, so scroll down to see them.

^*Jewish Sabbath.

I See a GAO Contract Challenge

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Picture h/t Amy Butler

Raytheon Beat Boeing for the successor contract for the small diameter bomb successor, basically a form, fit, and function identical variant with a "tri-mode seeker" to allow it to strike moving targets.

Considering that they beat the prior prime, and considering that cost was something like 3^rd on the priority list, I would expect a challenge here.

I Really Cannot Add to This

Deep Thought

I got it via email.

Pulp Disney

Not safe for work, but brilliant!

Economics Update (a Day Late)

It's jobless Thursday, and initial jobless claims rose to the highest level in 6 months, 484,000 claims, the highest number since February 20, well over forecasts of 465,000.

Additionally, the 4 week moving average jumped to 473,500 from 459,250 , though continuing claims fell by 18,000 to 4,452,000, though, as always, that reflects discouraged workers, as well as people going past the 26 week window.

In real estate, foreclosures rose again, and RealtyTrac is not anticipating a peak until some time in 2011, and mortgage rates fell to the4.44% (!), the lowest since Freddie Mac started its survey in 1971.

Judge Vaughn Walker Splits the Baby

He has now officially lifted his stay of his ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, but has made effective on August 18, giving the bigots an opportunity to get a stay from the appellate court.

So effective August 18, gays can get married in California.

Contemptible Craven Cowardice

Rachel Maddow lets him have it over his cowardice on Don't Ask Don't Tell.

I may be too hard on Barack Obama about this. It might not be cowardice. Maybe he just hates gays, and that's why he won't even issue a stop loss order to end the witch hunts.

Obama, Rahm, and the Democratic establishment had better be praying that the Republicans get even crazier over the next 2½ months, because the f%$#ing couch is feeling pretty f^%$ing good under a lot of people's asses right now.

Financial Media Wankery

Paul La Monica does it again in his Panglossian pursuit of reasons for investors to reasons to reenter the market.

So, his advice to investors is to masturbate:

Investors need to follow the immortal words of the 80's one-hit wonder Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax.

What? You mean that Mr. La Monica doesn't know that the song was about masturbation?

<Facepalm>

Don't Pray for Christopher Hitchens, Buy His Book

Christopher Hitchens has metastasized esophageal cancer, and his friend and co-worker at The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, has fielded the responses to this news.

It's very well written, and bears repeating:

A Message to Those Praying for Christopher Hitchens

Aug 9 2010, 10:05 AM ET

On behalf of Christopher Hitchens, who thinks all of this skydaddy talk is ridiculous, thanks to all of you who wrote in to Goldblog to report that they would be praying for him as he undergoes treatment for esophageal cancer (you can hear him talk about his current predicament here). I would like to reiterate, of course, that Hitchens is still solidly atheist (strike that 'still,' actually, because it implies his mind will change, which I don't think will happen, at least, as he says, in reference to the mind we know today as Hitchens's mind—what medicine does to his mind is a different story), but nevertheless I can report that he does not mock those who say they are praying on his behalf. What you could really, do, of course, if you're interested in making Hitch happy, is buy this book.

As for the few of you who wrote to Goldblog to say they were praying for Hitch's death, I can say that he does not care one way or another what you do or think or pray, but on behalf of myself and the entire team here at The Atlantic, let me just say, Go f%$# yourselves.

I believe God will forgive me for that one.

(%$# mine)

Torturing a 15 Year Old Boy and Using the Confession Extracted Against Him, That's the American Way

So says Barack Obama on the Omar Khadr military tribunal:

Military commissions were one of those Bush/Cheney policies which provoked virtually universal outrage among progressives and Democrats back in the day when executive power abuses and rule of law transgressions were a concern. The Obama administration's claim that the commissions are now improved to the point that they provide a forum of real justice is being put to the test -- and blatantly failing -- with the first such commission to be held under Obama: that of Omar Khadr, accused of throwing a grenade in 2002 which killed an American solider in Afghanistan, when Khadr was 15 years old. This is the first trial of a child soldier held since World War II, explained a U.N. official who condemned these proceedings. The commission has already ruled that confessions made by Khadr which were clearly obtained through coercion, abuse and torture will be admitted as evidence against him. Prior to the commencement of Khadr's "trial," the commission ruled in another case that the sentence imposed on a Sudanese detainee Ibrahim al-Qosi -- convicted as part of a plea bargain of the dastardly crime of being Osama bin Laden's "cook" -- will be kept secret until he is released. What kind of country has secret sentences?

I get it. Barack Obama and His Evil Minions^™ know that this is wrong, but they don't want to spend the political capital or make the political risks to stop this.

This is worse the Bush and Cheney, because they saw torture and kangaroo courts as an independent good, but the Obama administration is doing this because they are worried about attacks that are happening anyway.

I will repeat what I said earlier, I am so writing in "Howard Dean," in the 2012 general, and I don't care if some it's some recombinant DNA Chimera combination of Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, I am voting for whoever opposes him in the primary.

This is just evil, and should this ever see justice in the Hague, everyone in the chain of command today, right to the very top, should be put in the dock.

Economics Update

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Historical Consumer Confidence Trends, Courtesy Angry Bear

Consumers are continuing to deleverage, (Thrift, Paradox of) with outstanding consumer debt falling for the 5^th straight month, so people are still not spending.

On the brighter side, rail traffic increased in July YoY, though business productivity fell for the first time in 1½ years in the 2^nd quarter. Additionally, this report shows that household income fell.….Not good.

It's not surprising that the National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index fell for the 2^nd straight month.

Meanwhile, the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover (Jolts) report showed hiring slowing in June.

Finally, despite record breaking low rates, mortgage were flat this week.

Less Weird, But Just As Stupid

Rand Paul's "kidnapping" of a fellow swim team member wasn't a kidnapping.

She was tied up and all, but it was more on the order of a hazing, so it was consensual, and still really fracking weird.

Still no word on the whole "Made to worship the Aqua Buddha" thing.